Samantha Armytage fired a broadside at the media during her tearful final remarks as the co-host of Seven’s top-rating breakfast show.
“I do want to say that I never fully understood some of the scrutiny, and the snarkiness and the bullying from some aspects of the media,” the now former Sunrise host said on Thursday.
“But today, we move on from that. Because there is a new chapter starting and it has been overwhelmingly a good experience in my life. Most of all I thank all of our viewers. You are just wonderful people. There are so many lovely people out there – so many more lovely ones than the nasty ones.”
Samantha Armytage has signed off from Sunrise for the final time. Credit:Getty Images
It was a fitting – and unsurprising – sign-off given Armytage’s tumultuous relationship with the press in recent years.
Armytage announced her resignation live on-air Monday morning, saying she wanted a break from public life given recent developments in her personal life including the death of her mother and marriage to millionaire businessman Richard Lavender.
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Thursday’s send-off was relatively stock-standard as far as television farewells are concerned. There were montages of Armytage’s eight years with Sunrise, including emotional scenes of her covering bushfires and floods. The lighter moments were there, too: including the time she mispronounced the Cook Islands (your mind doesn’t have to wander far), was pushed off a cliff in New Zealand and had cockroaches poured over her live on TV. There was also video call with Armytage’s sister and niece, who are based in London.
Lavender joined Armytage on set during the second half of the program to talk about the start of their romance.
“I remember seeing her [at a friend’s birthday party] and I got this really nice sort of feelin and I thought, that’s my girl,” he said. “It sounds corney, but it’s true. She’s wonderful. She’s a great family girl which is also very important to me.”
