The last AFL Footy Show hosts to steer the iconic TV show have spoken out after it was revealed, after 735 episodes, the show was no more.
The new cast of Anthony 'Lehmo' Lehmann, Brendan Fevola, Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott and Shane Crawford spent less than two months in the job, with Meadows signing off on Thursday night with a cheerful “thanks for watching, see you next week.”
Less than 90 minutes later, Nine Melbourne Managing Director Matt Scriven confirmed the show would end.
“I want to thank the current hosts, Anthony Lehmann, Neroli Meadows, Dylan Alcott, Brendan Fevola and Shane Crawford, the former hosts of The Footy Show, and the hard working crew for their great contribution,” Scriven said in a statement.
“It is with regret that The Footy Show will no longer be produced. It has been a tough decision to end the program that has been such a trailblazer, but sadly the new show has not captured audiences in the way we had hoped.
“Over the past three decades Nine has led the way with AFL entertainment and news programs and we will continue to do so, with the production of the award-winning Footy Classified and the Sunday Footy Show.
“We remain committed to the AFL and creating great AFL content, and we will continue to focus on new ways to engage audiences who love the code.”
The final edition of The Footy Show did 78,000 in Melbourne. The Front Bar 308,000.
— Colin Vickery (@Colvick) May 9, 2019
Lehmo fronted up to Triple M on Friday morning to talk through what happened overnight.
“We’ve got eyes and ears and we’re not idiots, so we knew that there was potentially, a bit of heat on the show,” Lehmo said.
“We said: ‘If this is our last show’ — and we had no idea at the time — I said: ‘Let’s make a show that makes every single person who watches it really disappointed that it’s not gonna be back next week’.
“I feel we achieved that last night.’”
For the hosts, during the show at least, it appeared the news came as a shock.
“I’m bloody disappointed The Footy Show has been cancelled but I’m grateful for the opportunity to host it with Nez, Fev, Dylan and Crawf and am really proud of the shows we made,” Lehmo said on Twitter.
“Our team were brilliant and spare a thought for the crew, some of whom had been there for 25 years!”
I’m bloody disappointed The Footy Show has been cancelled but I’m grateful for the opportunity to host it with Nez, Fev, Dylan and Crawf and am really proud of the shows we made. Our team were brilliant and spare a thought for the crew, some of whom had been there for 25 years!
— lehmo (@lehmo23) May 9, 2019
“Gave it a crack — loved every second,” Meadows said via Instagram.
“Here’s to the people behind the scenes who worked on this show every year it was on air.
“Proud of the show we created this year and proud of the people who worked on it. Fun episode to go out on!”
