Sam Armytage quits Sunrise: Host’s exit was ‘tightly orchestrated and spoken about for months’

Sunrise host Sam Armytage shocked viewers on Monday when she announced her departure from the Channel Seven breakfast show.

But the 44-year-old’s exit wasn’t a surprise to Seven executives or the staff working behind the scenes, reports The Australian.

Sam’s on-air resignation was apparently ‘tightly orchestrated’ and secret discussions about her future at Sunrise had been going on for months.

Sam’s last day on Sunrise will be Thursday, but her contract with Seven doesn’t expire until October. 

If the report in The Australian is correct, it means Sam was discussing her exit from Sunrise at a time when she was publicly denying rumours of her departure.

In December, she had furiously hit back at a report in a Nine-owned newspaper which claimed her position at Seven was ‘one of the biggest question marks of 2021’ 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Channel Seven for comment. 

Sam, who joined Sunrise in 2013, tearfully announced her resignation on Monday.

‘The time has come for the sun to set on my time at Sunrise. I have always been brave and fearless in my career and this decision is no different,’ she said.

She explained she was leaving of her own choosing, and was looking forward to life away from the spotlight after a ‘bittersweet’ year that included the death of her mother, Libby, and her marriage to businessman Richard Lavender.

‘As many of you know, the last six months of my personal life have been very bittersweet. Some bits have been very happy, and some bits have been very, very sad, and I want to step out of this public world for a while and take some time and calm things down, enjoy a bit of slow living, and spend some time with my precious family, my husband and [dog] Banjo,’ she said during the show on Monday. 

Sam’s $800,000-a-year contract expires at the end of the year, and she will take an ‘extended’ leave of absence until then, reports The Sydney Morning Herald. 

While Seven has not yet announced Sam’s replacement, TV Blackbox reports newsreader Natalie Barr will be stepping in alongside co-anchor David ‘Kochie’ Koch.