Jesse Mulligan reveals 'awkward, horrible' last days on Seven Sharp

Jesse Mulligan has given his most in-depth interview yet on his controversial departure from TVNZ's Seven Sharp, revealing he wasn't invited to photo shoots with his co-hosts Mike Hosking and Toni Street.

Mulligan, who now fronts The Project for Three alongside Kanoa Lloyd and Jeremy Corbett, presented Seven Sharp between 2013-2014 with Alison Mau and Greg Boyed.

The show was meant to be a light-hearted replacement for Close Up, the long-running, hard-hitting 7pm current affairs show that ended in 2012.

But in a storm of negative reviews and falling ratings, alongside a tumultuous presenting panel that never showed any chemistry, Hosking and Street were brought in to steady the ship in 2014, with Mulligan lasting just three months alongside them.

Mike Hosking, Toni Street and Jesse Mulligan during their brief time hosting Seven Sharp together.

In a new interview with Barkers magazine, Mulligan calls those three months "awkward" and "horrible".

He says he constantly felt like a third wheel, but admitted his style of comedy didn't fit with the rest of the show.

"When you're doing something that clashes with the format of a show, it disappears. People don't actually register that it's going on. It just becomes invisible."

Mulligan goes on to detail how he wasn't invited to a photo shoot with Hosking and Street for Woman's Day, and says he was shuffled out of the studio to make room for guests during live broadcasts.

"It's around that point you realise you're probably not an integral part of a show ... it was a pretty horrible feeling."

Mulligan calls Hosking an "alpha nice guy" but couldn't understand the Newstalk ZB host's breakfast choice: Brazil nuts and a salad.

"There's nowhere to buy Mediterranean salad at seven in the morning, so he must be making it ... the night before," Mulligan quipped.

"That could be in any sort of state by the 7.30 morning news."

I literally don't think about this unless an interviewer asks me. Sorry you have to put up with this biannual headline! Alternative is not answering the question and then that becomes a thing. https://t.co/yCpEFNY5JH

— Jesse Mulligan (@JesseMulligan) May 29, 2018

Mulligan, a food critic for the NZ Herald's Viva publication, had already revealed to the Herald that his departure felt humiliating.

"Wandering into an office of people - nice people- who regarded me with a mixture of awkwardness and pity, then having to front up on a show where, I suspect, the audience felt largely the same thing," he said.

"When I left I felt a bit humiliated and a little bitter, but those feelings didn't last long and didn't affect my life or mood in any real way."

Hosking and Street departed Seven Sharp last year with Hilary Barry and Jeremy Wells taking over.