It appears Paul “Fatty” Vautin won’t get to host the 25th anniversary of the NRL Footy Show after Nine revealed it was dumping the long-serving host in favour of a new, earlier format.
The 58-year-old Vautin will be sent back to commentary duties as he sees out his last year of his Nine contract, as Nine attempt to re-boot the program at an earlier, family-friendly time.
Apparently, The Footy Show, which has won 11 Logies, has been leaking female viewers to Fox Sports for some time after the pay TV provider seriously upped its NRL coverage and boosted its female commentary teams.
The rumours are that incumbent co-host, Erin Moylan, will be the new face of the show, which will air in prime-time on Monday evenings.
Darryl “Big Marn” Brohman has also said to have been axed in the shake-up, while the future of regular Beau Ryan is unclear.
B&T contacted Nine for more details of next year’s show, however, weren’t given anything more than it would undergo a “refresh” and said “the exact format of the Footy Show and appearing talent is still to be determined.”
In a statement, the network said: “Nine will be broadcasting 23 Thursday night NRL games in 2018 and so the NRL Footy Show will have a new look and feel to reflect the games the audience have just enjoyed watching.”
Nine will also be live streaming all its NRL games, including State of Origin and NRL Grand Final, on 9Now and show extensive clips and highlights on the Wide World of Sports website as a result of the new rights arrangement beginning next season.
