''Wake Up'' was an Australian

breakfast television Breakfast television (Europe, Canada, and Australia) or morning show (United States) is a type of news or infotainment television programme that broadcasts live in the morning (typically scheduled between 5:00 and 10:00a.m., or if it is a l ...

program produced by

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. The show was hosted by

Natarsha Belling Natarsha Belling (born 29 May 1970) is an Australian journalist. Belling has previously worked at Network 10 as a television presenter, news presenter and reporter. She spent over two decades with the company until being made redundant in Augu ...

and

James Mathison James Mathison (born 14 January 1978) is an Australian television presenter and former independent political candidate. Early life Mathison was born in Sydney, New South Wales and grew up in Northern Beaches suburb of Frenchs Forest. He att ...

. It aired weekday mornings from 6.30am to 8.30am, before Ten's morning talk show ''

Studio 10 ''Studio 10'' is an Australian morning talk show on Network 10. The show airs between 8:30am and noon on weekdays and a highlights show airs between 9:30am and noon on weekends. ''Studio 10'' is broadcast live from Network 10 Studios in Pyr ...

''. ''Wake Up'', launched on 4 November 2013, was presented from Queenscliff Surf Club at

Manly Beach Manly Beach is a beach situated among the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Australia, in Manly, New South Wales. From north to south, the three main sections are Queenscliff, North Steyne, and South Steyne. Etymology The beach was named by Capt. ...

in Sydney, with

Nuala Hafner Nuala Hafner is an Australian media personality of Ghanaian descent. She is also a psychologist. Early life and education Hafner was born in London, England, to Ghanaian-born Australian Dorinda Hafner. Her parents met in England, where her fa ...

presenting national news updates from a glass studio at

Federation Square Federation Square (colloquially Fed Square) is a venue for arts, culture and public events on the edge of the Melbourne central business district. It covers an area of at the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets built above busy ra ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

. Due to poor ratings, the show was cancelled just six months after its debut, with the last episode airing 23 May 2014.

Presenters

Reporters and contributors

Natasha Exelby Natasha Exelby is an Australian journalist. She was a news reporter for ''10 News First.'' Career Seven Network Following her graduation from the Queensland University of Technology in 2005, Exelby commenced her career as a full-time journalist, ...

was originally a co-host alongside Belling and Mathison, but was dropped from the show less than three weeks after its launch due to a lack of chemistry. Creator Adam Boland stated that he saw "genuine spark during show rehearsals" but that it did not translate on air.

Controversy

On 14 May 2014, the morning after the announcement of the

2014 Australian federal budget The 2014 Australian federal budget was the federal budget to fund government services and operations for the 2014/15 financial year. The 2014 budget was the first delivered by the Abbott Government, since the Coalition's victory in the 2013 Au ...

, ''Wake Up'' invited Prime Minister

Tony Abbott Anthony John Abbott (; born 4 November 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th prime minister of Australia from 2013 to 2015. He held office as the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia. Abbott was born in Lond ...

to take part in an on-air forum involving members of the public. One of the participants, 85-year-old Brisbane pensioner Vilma Ward, began to ambush Abbott live on air, telling him "I've never heard such rubbish in all my life" referring to his plan to raise the pension age. Ward also called Abbott a "comedian". It later emerged that Ward had strong links with the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

dating back to the 1960s and had appeared in an election campaign brochure. Network Ten admitted they were not aware of Ward's links prior to the segment.

Reception

Following its first show, ''Wake Up'' was considered in some quarters as a vast improvement over its predecessor, '' Breakfast''. Wake Up's first episode averaged 52,000 viewers nationally. A week after the first episode, the show had lost around half of its audience share, even rating lower than ''Breakfast'' (''Wake Up'''s predecessor, which had been cancelled the year before due to low ratings).

References

{{reflist 2013 Australian television series debuts 2014 Australian television series endings Australian television news shows Breakfast television in Australia English-language television shows Network 10 original programming Television shows set in Sydney 10 News First