''The Project'' is a New Zealand current affairs show hosted by Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd, and Jeremy Corbett with rotating guest panelists. It premiered on 20 February 2017 as a replacement for '' Story'' and airs from 7 pm weeknights on Three. The show runs for half an hour. It was simulcast on RadioLive, Monday – Thursday, until 5 June 2017. The show's format was purchased from

Roving Enterprises Roving Enterprises Pty Ltd is an Australian television production company, owned by television presenter, producer and comedian Rove McManus and his business partner Craig Campbell and managed by General Manager Kevin Whyte. The company is respo ...

and is the same as that of the Australian version, '' The Project'', which airs on

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 ...

. It presents light and topical current affairs content as well as comedy from recent news stories.

Presenters

Backup presenters

* As anchor ** Jon Bridges **

Michael Wesley-Smith Michael Thomas Hickland Wesley-Smith (born 2 December 1983) is a New Zealand television actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Jack in the teen sci-fi TV show '' The Tribe''. Biography Wesley-Smith started his career acting on stage in ...

** Wallace Chapman ** Patrick Gower ** Ryan Bridge ** Nadine Higgins * As newsreader ** Nadine Higgins (née Chalmers-Ross) ** Mike McRoberts **

Ali Mau Alison Mau () (born 14 February 1965), known professionally as Ali Mau, is an Australian-born New Zealand journalist and broadcaster. She is a former television news anchor, former co-host of the TVNZ current affairs show ''Seven Sharp'', forme ...

** Nadine Higgins ** Isobel Ewing ** Jeremy Corbett ** Kate Rodger ** Laura Tupou * As comedian **

Ben Hurley Ben Hurley is a stand up comedian from New Zealand. Hurley started his comedy career in Wellington as resident host of The Wellington Comedy Club. After winning the Billy T Award he moved to London and worked on the comedy circuit there between ...

** Peter Helliar ** Jeremy Elwood ** Rhys Mathewson **

Dai Henwood Dafydd Morgan "Dai" Henwood (born 7 February 1978) is a New Zealand comedian. He is best known for his hosting of several television shows found on Three but also performs stand-up comedy. Life and career Henwood was born in 1978 to father R ...

** Josh Thomson ** Rose Matafeo ** Melanie Bracewell ** Urzila Carlson ** Justine Smith **

Rove McManus John Henry Michael McManus (born 21 January 1974), better known by the stage name Rove McManus, is an Australian triple Gold Logie award-winning comedian, television and radio presenter, producer and media personality. He was the host of the e ...

** Guy Williams ** Heath Franklin (as Chopper) ** Jono Pryor ** Tony Lyall **

Paul Ego Paul Ego (birth name Paul Jones) is a Billy T Award winning New Zealand comedian. He is best known both for his current role as leader of Team One on the New Zealand comedy current affairs panel show 7 Days, and as the voice artist of the Sti ...

Jaquie Brown Jaquie Brown is a New Zealand TV presenter, actress and radio presenter. Biography Brown was born in England and moved to New Zealand when she was fifteen.

** Pax Assadi

History

Season 1 (2017)

The first television advertisement for the show was released in early February and promoted the show as "not the same old song and dance". The program launched on 20 February 2017 with hosts Jesse Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd, and Josh Thomson, and guest host

, and became the number 1 trend on Twitter during its timeslot. Fill-in hosts throughout the first season include

, Peter Helliar, Jeremy Elwood, Rhys Mathewson, and

for Josh Thomson, Jon Bridges,

and Wallace Chapman for Jesse Mulligan, and Nadine Higgins (née Chalmers-Ross) for Kanoa Lloyd. On Monday through Thursday, episodes aired for half an hour, and on Friday, for a whole hour. On 5 June 2017, RadioLive ceased simulcasting ''The Project''. The season ended on 15 December 2017, having aired 212 episodes.

Season 2 (2018)

The second season of ''The Project'' debuted on 15 January 2018, three weeks earlier than its competitor, '' Seven Sharp''. On 16 March 2018, Josh Thomson left his position as panelist on ''The Project'', although he "will continue to contribute to ''The Project'', and will join Jesse and Kanoa on the desk regularly." His position was filled by Jeremy Corbett, who had usually been the fourth host on Monday nights. On 18 May 2018, Francesca Avent and Toby Gilsenan got married live on ''The Project'', with Jaquie Brown officiating, as a culmination of the show's week-long celebration of the

wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The groom is a member of the British royal family; the bride is American and previously worked as an ...

. The season ended on 14 December 2018, having aired 238 episodes.

Season 3 (2019)

The third season of ''The Project'' debuted on 21 January 2019, with Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern ( ; born 26 July 1980) is a New Zealand politician who has been serving as the 40th prime minister of New Zealand and Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party, leader of the Labour Party since 2017. A member of the L ...

's partner Clarke Gayford as the fourth host. On 15 March, they had no fourth host or live studio audience as they covered the

Christchurch mosque shootings On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. The attacks, carried out by a lone gunman who entered both mosques during Friday prayer, began at the Al Noor Mosq ...

. On 17 April, there was no episode, because Three was airing the You Are Us/Aroha Nui concert live from Christchurch. There was also no episodes on 19 April or 22 April for Good Friday and Easter Monday. The season ended on 13 December 2019, having aired 232 episodes.

Season 4 (2020)

The fourth season of ''The Project'' debuted on 20 January 2020. The Friday episodes were reduced to half an hour. On 17 February, they aired at 6:30pm due to a network outage at Newshub, which forced Three to re-air the 4:30pm bulletin at 6pm, and meant that they didn't have an autocue. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

, the show stopped having an audience from 16 March, and from 23 March, it stopped having a rotating guest panelist, changing to a three-host format. A physically distanced studio audience returned on 18 May. A full studio audience and rotating guest panelist returned on 8 June, with Patrick Gower being the first. On 12 August, with Auckland returning to Alert Level 3, the show stopped having an audience and reverted to the three-host format. When Auckland returned to Alert Level "2.5" on 31 August, a fourth host returned and a physically distanced audience was added. The season ended on 11 December 2020, having aired 233 episodes.

Season 5 (2021)

The fifth season of ''The Project'' debuted on 18 January 2021. The rotating guest panelist was removed from 15 to 17 February 2021 and again from 1 to 5 March 2021, while Auckland was in Alert Level 3. On 27 May, Urzila Carlson was scheduled to be the guest host, but had to self-isolate before the episode began. , 116 episodes have been aired.

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Season 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Project (New Zealand TV programme), The 2017 New Zealand television series debuts 2010s New Zealand television series 2020s New Zealand television series English-language television shows New Zealand comedy television series New Zealand television news shows New Zealand television series based on Australian television series New Zealand television talk shows Three (TV channel) original programming