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Tarsh risks it all on Wake Up

Natarsha Belling says of moving to Wake Up, "For my professional career this is a big risk."

2013-10-20_2306In two week’s time, TEN launches its long-awaited re-entry into morning television with Wake Up and Studio 10.

And for Natarsha Belling, the hosting role represents a big roll of the dice.

“For my professional career this is a big risk. I’m under no illusion that we have an extraordinarily hard job ahead of us. I’ve worked with Karl and Lisa and I have great respect with both of those programmes -and ABC as well,” she told TV Tonight.

“I love being the underdog because people underestimate you. I am not going to look at the figure and I am absolutely under no pressure on me by Adam (Boland) or anyone else.

“But I have the analogy of running a race. If I’m constantly looking at my competitors then I’m not going to do my best job.

“Of course we are a commercial network and ratings are what we live or die by. But as Adam keeps on saying, this is not going to be an overnight success. We live in a world obsessed with instant gratification. I’m not expecting us to be an overnight success by any means.”

Belling has had 15 years with TEN News. Since starting her career at Prime TV in Orange, followed by ABC in Darwin, she joined TEN as an on the road journo and newsreader in Sydney, specialising in medical reporting.

“I was there for the start of Australian Idol and all those incredible programmes, which when you think about it, TEN really revolutionised TV. And I get that feeling with this programme. I think the time is extraordinarily unique.”

Her roles have included Morning News, Weekend News on and off for about 10 years, including 6 years fulltime. But while Wake Up is an opportunity to step out from behind the autocue, it’s unlikely to be her biggest audience, and she certainly isn’t fazed by the prospect.

“I don’t see this as an opportunity to raise my profile at all, because if you worry about your profile you’re in the wrong business. The way we deliver news is changing and I think the viewer wants more than a straight bulletin. I’m really excited about being involved in a programme that’s going to change the way breakfast news is delivered,” she insists.

“On the weekend Kevin Rudd called the election I did 3 hours without an autocue. So it’s not about not having an autocue, but being real. I do have opinions and thoughts about issues and I feel constrained sometimes on the newsdesk, so this gives me a new avenue.”

She will be joined by Natasha Exelby and James Mathison, and TEN is making much of their on-air chemistry and differences of opinion.

“James, Tash and I come from completely different worlds. I have 2 children, I’ve worked in journalism for 15 years and I’m very passionate about certain issues. Tash comes from a completely different world and so does James. But what I love is that we’ll disagree on certain topics but there is mutual respect,” she says.

For example?

“I know this sounds superficial but for me Miley Cyrus brought up a whole different range of issues: parenting, child stars, exploitation of women, sexualisation of music videos and young children -so for me it wasn’t about Miley twerking, as a parent I was concerned about a whole different range of issues.

“Tash probably didn’t see it to the enormity of what I did, because she’s not a parent.

“I don’t know about texting and dropping people on dates, but she has a fabulous view on it. So I think it’s great to have a whole different range of opinions.

“I still think we can have an intelligent but entertaining conversation.”

Wake Up premieres 6:30am Monday November 4 on TEN.

27 Responses

  1. People say this show will rate poorly outside of Sydney and Melbourne. I strongly disagree. It will receive strong ratings in Adelaide and Perth especially the latter, where I believe it will win the market, as it will be up to date, not two of three hours delayed like today and sunrise. People want live news, not news three hours after its happened.

  2. Lots of negativity here. It will certainly do better than Breakfast. This show does not have Paul Henry. Nine and seven offer dated programs. Ten is offering something fresh. Give it’s go people!!!

  3. I’m hoping Wake Up is successful for Ten but it won’t happen overnight. I’m not a morning tv watcher as I can’t stand Stefanovic or Koch. However, I will certainly give Wake Up a go. Natasha Exelby is the red herring for me. The bunged on ocker accent is annoying as heck – hopefully she curtails it.

    As for those saying Belling’s career is over if Wake Up fails, what a load of rubbish. She will simply return to weekend news & being Sandra Sully’s understudy.

    Ten really need to get their live streaming of Wake Up right. They can get a following from those travelling to work. However, if their effort so far with the Eyewitness News app is anything to go by, they will stuff streaming up.

  4. Great if it works but not if it flops. I think it will flop for a few reasons…location (screams Syd/Melb at the other states)…James Mathison (should have been Matt Doran he has killer chemistry with Natarsha)…timeslot (you can’t starts 30 mins or 1 hour after the competition)..

  5. The three hosts may have chemistry between them, but I doubt it’ll have chemistry with the Australian public. The only way to make this different is too have a lighter take on the day’s events. It’s a casual backdrop, so there’s no way you can go hard – and with the younger hosts, I feel Natarsha Belling may get frustrated down the track with the direction it’ll head. I think if she’s in need of a being a hard hitting journo, this show may not deliver that persona.

  6. Oh My Gosh Guys!

    How about just lay off for a minute… The show hasn’t even aired yet and you’re all acting like it’s the end of the world. I personally think it looks good, much better than the same old crap from Sunrise and Today.

  7. @ Karlos – there is not hatred for this show but rather wide-eyed head-shaking stupefaction that 10 have gone down this breakfast road again when the primetime woes are 10’s biggest headache. These should be addressed rather than having a “sofa by the sea.”
    If I were a 10 shareholder I’d be asking some very pointed questions.
    And as for So You Think You can Dance???? What else are they going to dust off? Idol? Priscilla? Lara Bingle? Hot House?
    Is the cupboard that bare or is everyone just too scared to make a decision re something new given they’ve all been so badly burned by all the really quite insane programming decisions of the past two years?

  8. Tarsh is great! Good luck to her. It can’t be any worse than Breakfast….right?! But I still think 6:30 is a strange time to start…ie- “after” both your competing shows. I’m long gone to work by 6:30… 🙁

  9. Judging from the previous comments I guess anything over 60,000 will be quite a success. The biggest initial hurdle these shows face is public awareness. How do you market something within a network where your highest rating show pulls in 741k? Not easy.

    They will have to give it at least a 6-9 month run and see how it goes, the shareholders sound quite patient in another article with the CEO

  10. I don’t know anyone in the target demographic who would immediately think “it is between the hours of 6:30 and 8:30am, better switch on Channel Ten”

    This will flop harder than Breakfast did – a breakfast program is not what Ten needs now at all, they should be focussing on somehow getting viewers back to their primetime lineup

  11. @Sifter – exactly.
    Why would you possibly select two hosts with the same name (although one has an idiosyncratic spelling – like Jacyn or Rebekkah)?
    We all know that 10 had to use 10 people (or those closely associated with 10) but there must have been two women with different names.
    Also a strange PR message – please watch my show or else I’m goooone.
    And do they really think us that naive that they won’t be poring over minute by minute ratings from day 1 (err day 2 when they are released).
    Long term project means the axe falls in mid-2015 when the ratings are still sub-40K and their exclusive interview guest is Jon English or Agro.

    1. Admittedly it’s not ideal but perish the day we cast people on the spelling of their names rather than what they can bring to the table. I agree long term prospects have been announced then abandoned before.

  12. The collect comments have all expressed concern.

    Tarsh – when you get the call to say the numbers are small but the demos are good – be frightened !

  13. If they’re planning to talk about Miley Cyrus, texting and dating them I’m out.

    I just hope she’s got a backup plan for when this all goes terribly wrong.

  14. Oh sweetheart, she has been told it is a long term project and trusted it. Just like the news revolution, Breakfast and ONE HD (24hr sport channel) were.

  15. under no pressure yet wait till the rating sucks.

    I think the set looks crap compared to my expectations of a Boland production. locations winner though

  16. She’s a good egg, Natarsha – hope she does well! Being completely anal though…I hate how they’ve got Tash and Tarsh on the same show – annoys me straight away.

  17. Natarsha is a darling girl and very professional.Being part of this silly show will bring her down.I really wish she swapped over to a better network where she respected for the journo she is and not some short lived show with two less liked faces.

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