Ex Sunrise producer Michael Pell looked almost unrecognisable on Monday as he resurfaced in Las Vegas after months of avoiding the spotlight.
The former Seven executive producer, 42, left the network last November after almost 19 years, and was last seen in a tagged photograph posted online in May.
He was spotted looking very slender in Instagram photos as he partied with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson in the US during her travels with KIIS FM.
The radio star, 49, shared images to her Instagram documenting the Vegas wedding of Kyle and Jackie O newsreader Brooklyn Ross and his partner Damien Dirienzo.
Nestled in the collection were a few stray images of Pell who looked much slimmer in the face than he did as an employee at Seven.
The last post Pell made to his own social media was in April 2022 when he announced he was leaving his post as executive producer at Sunrise.
For 11 years, Pell drove Sunrise’s success and domination in the world of TV breakfast news, but decided to move to the US with partner Daniel Burgess-Wise.
Pell listed his job description on Instagram at the time as Senior Vice President, Entertainment Content North America, Seven Network Australia.
Ex Sunrise producer Michael Pell, 42, (right) looked almost unrecognisable on Monday as he resurfaced in Las Vegas at a wedding with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, 49, (left) after months of avoiding the spotlight
However, Seven issued a statement in April this year confirming the former TV executive no longer worked for the company after almost two years in that role.
Pell also confirmed he had departed from Seven and had seemingly taken a break from being on social media, reported The Daily Telegraph in June.
‘Definitely not working at Seven. Just have not been on Insta for months.’ he said when asked why his Instagram bio still suggested he worked for Seven at the time.
Pell looked much slimmer in the face while partying in Las Vegas than he did as an employee at Seven. He departed from the network for good in November 2023
While Pell was last tagged in a photo in May before partying with Aussie radio stars this week, he has been flying under the radar completely since April.
He made headlines when Seven denied they had axed Pell, who was one of their top executives and led Sunrise to the top of the breakfast TV ratings.
Australian Financial Review had earlier claimed two sources at Seven confirmed Pell was ‘fired’ from the network as management attempted to cut $60million in costs.
Pell was promoted by Seven to a ‘talent scout’ role based in Los Angeles when he left Brekkie Central in 2022 after 11 years, but has since left that role.
Pell posed for images at the Vegas wedding of Kyle and Jackie O newsreader Brooklyn Ross and his partner Damien Dirienzo. Both pictured with Pell and his partner Daniel Burgess-Wise
He oversaw an extraordinarily successful period for Sunrise—Australia’s No. 1 breakfast show—since replacing Adam Boland as EP in 2010.
He is credited with helping the program, then anchored by Natalie Barr and David Koch, extend its lead against arch-rival Nine’s Today show.
For his last day at Sunrise, hosts Natalie Barr and David ‘Kochie’ Koch bid an emotional farewell to the much-admired executive.
Pell made headlines again in April during a bizarre turn of events when Seven’s former commercial director Bruce McWilliam sent an image of Pell bloodied and covered in bandages to a reporter at a rival news organisation.
The last post Pell made to his own social media was in April 2022 when he announced he was leaving his post as executive producer at Sunrise
McWilliam reportedly told a Nine Newspapers journalist that the injured Pell had been driven to self-harm by her inquiries about a secret fraud investigation at the network.
‘This is what your unfounded reports have caused Michael to do,’ McWilliam wrote in an email to Sydney Morning Herald journalist Zoe Samios in October 2022.
‘Why don’t you keep it up so he kills himself,’ McWilliam continued, according to a report in Nine Newspapers.
An accompanying photograph showed Pell in a hospital gown with a cut on his forehead.
Pell is credited with helping the program, then anchored by Natalie Barr and David Koch, extend its lead against arch-rival Nine’s Today show. He is pictured with former Sunrise hosts Sam Armytage and David Koch
However, the injuries were not the result of any act of self-harm, but were caused by a fall Pell had when he blacked out on a street in Los Angeles weeks before the email was sent.
When asked about that fact, McWilliam said the photograph of the injuries was supplied to him by Pell’s husband Burgess-Wise and therefore he did not know that it did not depict any act of self-harm.
‘[Nine] alleged it was… old but that wasn’t made clear to me and I don’t even know whether what they say is true,’ he said.
‘[Burgess-Wise] asked me if I could help Michael and I if I could do something to stop the attacks on him, emanating from the questions [sent by Samios], which became increasingly fierce and misleading.’
