The Project axed: AM Show’s Melissa Chan-Green and Ryan Bridge’s heartfelt tribute to colleagues

Ryan Bridge and Melissa Chan-Green issued a heartfelt message to their colleagues at The Project after news of the show's discontinuation. Photo / Three

News broke yesterday that after seven years on air, the Three show The Project is being axed by Warner Bros. Discovery. It was a move that left fans and the show’s hosts and crew shocked. Now the AM Show have paid tribute to their colleagues.

Opening the show this morning, host Melissa Chan-Green kicked things off with a message to her colleagues at the broadcaster: “We just want to start with something a little from the heart this morning,” she said with her co-host Ryan Bridge beside her nodding.

“You may have seen the news about The Project and we just want to acknowledge this morning our colleagues there because they’re our friends too,” she said adding, “We want to send them all our support and all our love as they go through quite a challenging time.”

Ryan Bridge and Melissa Chan-Green issued a heartfelt message to their colleagues at The Project after news of the show's discontinuation. Photo / Three

Bridge added: “We work really closely with our colleagues here at Three and we love them very much,” adding, “We’re thinking of them at the moment and just sending them all of our best wishes for today and for the future.”

The announcement no doubt struck a chord for Bridge who has appeared on The Project as a revolving host multiple times.

It comes after Herald editor-at-large Shayne Currie broke the news of the shock discontinuation of the show on Thursday in his Media Insider column.

A Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson confirmed: “We have commenced consultation to discontinue The Project on Three from the end of the year - our primary focus is to support our people as we work through this process.”

The Project hosts, from left, Jeremy Corbett, Jesse Mulligan and Kanoa Lloyd. Photo / Three

The show - which first hit Kiwi screens in February 2017 - staffs approximately 24 people. It is filmed in front of a live studio audience in a building near Three’s main HQ in Auckland and is based on an Australian franchise of the same name.

Originally hosted by Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd and Josh Thomson, recent years have seen the popular 7pm news show hosted by Mulligan, Lloyd and Jeremy Corbett, with a range of other roving hosts.

Currie reported that Three is understood to pay a hefty international licensing fee for the use of The Project brand meaning a discontinuation will give the business a blank canvas to build a less expensive 7pm show.

The hosts are yet to speak out following the announcement.