Gorgi Coghlan, The Project’s regular Friday night co-host, will join the team five nights a week while Carrie Bickmore is on maternity leave.

Gorgi, who has been a part of The Project family for the past four years, will join Peter Helliar and Waleed Aly at the desk from Monday, March 9.

The Project’s executive producer, Craig Campbell, said: “Gorgi has been such a great fill-in for Carrie when she has been away and is the obvious person to keep her seat warm. We are very excited to have someone with such warmth and professionalism joining us at the desk each night.”

Gorgi said: “I’m super excited to be extending my co-hosting role from Friday nights to five nights a week. I’ve never worked with such a talented team, where every single producer, contributor and panel member is an absolute joy to work with. We’ll be aiming to make Bickmore laugh when she’s at home on the couch enjoying this precious chapter in her life.”

Carrie will return to The Project in the coming months, at a date yet to be announced.