''The Project'' is a New Zealand current affairs show hosted by

Jesse Mulligan Jesse Robert Turi Mulligan is a New Zealand television and radio broadcaster. He currently works as a co-host for '' The Project'' on Three, an afternoon presenter on RNZ National, and a writer for The New Zealand Herald's Viva Magazine. Career ...

Kanoa Lloyd Kanoa Lloyd (born December 1986) is a television and radio presenter from New Zealand. Lloyd was born in Gisborne to Ngāti Porou whānau, and grew up in Dunedin. Biography In 2009 Lloyd joined the presenting team on after school show ''Sti ...

, and

Jeremy Corbett Jeremy Corbett (born 1962 in Westport, New Zealand) is a radio and television host and comedian from New Zealand. Corbett is the former breakfast co-host for More FM's Auckland broadcast, a position he held since 1993, finishing in November 2 ...

with rotating guest panelists. It premiered on 20 February 2017 as a replacement for ''

Story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

'' and airs from 7 pm weeknights on

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

. The show runs for half an hour. It was simulcast on

RadioLive Radio Live (stylised as Radio LIVE) was a nationwide Auckland-based New Zealand talkback, news and sport radio network owned and operated by MediaWorks New Zealand. It was formed by the 2005 split of talk and racing network Radio Pacific into a ...

, Monday – Thursday, until 5 June 2017. The show's format was purchased from

Roving Enterprises Roving Enterprises Pty Ltd is an Australian television production company, owned by television presenter, producer and comedian Rove McManus and his business partner Craig Campbell and managed by General Manager Kevin Whyte. The company is respon ...

and is the same as that of the Australian version, '' The Project'', which airs on

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. It presents light and topical current affairs content as well as comedy from recent news stories.

Presenters

Backup presenters

* As anchor ** Jon Bridges ** Michael Wesley-Smith **

Wallace Chapman Wallace Leslie Chapman (born 1969) is a New Zealand radio and television host. Early life Chapman attended Nelson College from 1982 to 1986.''Nelson College Old Boys' Register, 1856–2006'', 6th edition Career He began his broadcasting career ...

Patrick Gower Patrick Gower (born 1976/1977) is a New Zealand political journalist and National Correspondent for ''Newshub'' (formerly called 3 News)''.'' Prior to his current role he was Newshub's political editor. Early life Gower grew up in New Plymouth ...

** Ryan Bridge ** Nadine Higgins * As newsreader ** Nadine Higgins (née Chalmers-Ross) ** Mike McRoberts **

Ali Mau Alison Mau () (born 14 February 1965), known professionally as Ali Mau, is an Australian-born New Zealand journalist and broadcaster. She is a former television news anchor, former co-host of the TVNZ current affairs show ''Seven Sharp'', fo ...

** Nadine Higgins ** Isobel Ewing **

** Kate Rodger ** Laura Tupou * As comedian ** Ben Hurley **

Peter Helliar Peter Jason Matthew Helliar (born 16 June 1975) is an Australian comedian, actor, television, radio presenter, writer, producer and director. He is best known for his work on television as a former regular co-host of '' The Project'' on Networ ...

** Jeremy Elwood ** Rhys Mathewson ** Dai Henwood ** Josh Thomson **

Rose Matafeo Rose Catherine Lettitia Matafeo (; born 25 February 1992) is a New Zealand comedian, actress, and TV presenter. She was a writer and performer on the New Zealand late-night comedy sketch show '' Funny Girls''. In 2018, she won the Edinburgh Come ...

** Melanie Bracewell ** Urzila Carlson ** Justine Smith **

Rove McManus John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...

** Guy Williams **

Heath Franklin Heath Franklin (born 23 December 1980) is an Australian comedic performer, improviser and writer. Career He appeared on ''The Ronnie Johns Half Hour'' sketch comedy show, ABC TV's ''Spicks and Specks (TV series), Spicks and Specks'', Working Do ...

(as Chopper) **

Jono Pryor Jonathan Richard "Jono" Pryor is a New Zealand radio and television personality best known as the cohost of ''Jono and Ben''. Pryor worked for The Rock radio station for over 15 years, before moving to The Edge in 2017 to cohost ''The Edge Afte ...

** Tony Lyall **

Paul Ego Paul Ego (birth name Paul Jones) is a Billy T Award winning New Zealand comedian. He is best known both for his current role as leader of Team One on the New Zealand comedy current affairs panel show 7 Days, and as the voice artist of the Stickm ...

** Jaquie Brown ** Pax Assadi

History

Season 1 (2017)

The first television advertisement for the show was released in early February and promoted the show as "not the same old song and dance". The program launched on 20 February 2017 with hosts Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd, and Josh Thomson, and guest host

, and became the number 1 trend on Twitter during its timeslot. Fill-in hosts throughout the first season include Ben Hurley,

, Jeremy Elwood, Rhys Mathewson, and Dai Henwood for Josh Thomson, Jon Bridges, Michael Wesley-Smith and

for Jesse Mulligan, and Nadine Higgins (née Chalmers-Ross) for Kanoa Lloyd. On Monday through Thursday, episodes aired for half an hour, and on Friday, for a whole hour. On 5 June 2017, RadioLive ceased simulcasting ''The Project''. The season ended on 15 December 2017, having aired 212 episodes.

Season 2 (2018)

The second season of ''The Project'' debuted on 15 January 2018, three weeks earlier than its competitor, '' Seven Sharp''. On 16 March 2018, Josh Thomson left his position as panelist on ''The Project'', although he "will continue to contribute to ''The Project'', and will join Jesse and Kanoa on the desk regularly." His position was filled by Jeremy Corbett, who had usually been the fourth host on Monday nights. On 18 May 2018, Francesca Avent and Toby Gilsenan got married live on ''The Project'', with Jaquie Brown officiating, as a culmination of the show's week-long celebration of the

wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The groom is a member of the British royal family; the bride is American and previously worked as an ...

. The season ended on 14 December 2018, having aired 238 episodes.

Season 3 (2019)

The third season of ''The Project'' debuted on 21 January 2019, with Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the Labour Party, she has been the member of ...

's partner

Clarke Gayford Clarke Timothy Gayford (born 24 October 1976) is a New Zealand radio and television broadcaster, presenter of the fishing documentary show ''Fish of the Day''. He is the fiancé of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Education and career ...

as the fourth host. On 15 March, they had no fourth host or live studio audience as they covered the

Christchurch mosque shootings On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosque ...

. On 17 April, there was no episode, because Three was airing the You Are Us/Aroha Nui concert live from Christchurch. There was also no episodes on 19 April or 22 April for Good Friday and Easter Monday. The season ended on 13 December 2019, having aired 232 episodes.

Season 4 (2020)

The fourth season of ''The Project'' debuted on 20 January 2020. The Friday episodes were reduced to half an hour. On 17 February, they aired at 6:30pm due to a network outage at Newshub, which forced Three to re-air the 4:30pm bulletin at 6pm, and meant that they didn't have an autocue. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the show stopped having an audience from 16 March, and from 23 March, it stopped having a rotating guest panelist, changing to a three-host format. A physically distanced studio audience returned on 18 May. A full studio audience and rotating guest panelist returned on 8 June, with Patrick Gower being the first. On 12 August, with Auckland returning to Alert Level 3, the show stopped having an audience and reverted to the three-host format. When Auckland returned to Alert Level "2.5" on 31 August, a fourth host returned and a physically distanced audience was added. The season ended on 11 December 2020, having aired 233 episodes.

Season 5 (2021)

The fifth season of ''The Project'' debuted on 18 January 2021. The rotating guest panelist was removed from 15 to 17 February 2021 and again from 1 to 5 March 2021, while Auckland was in Alert Level 3. On 27 May, Urzila Carlson was scheduled to be the guest host, but had to self-isolate before the episode began. , 116 episodes have been aired.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Project (New Zealand TV programme), The 2017 New Zealand television series debuts 2010s New Zealand television series 2020s New Zealand television series English-language television shows New Zealand comedy television series New Zealand television news shows New Zealand television series based on Australian television series New Zealand television talk shows Three (TV channel) original programming