Aussies shocked by the surprise 'return' of The Project as current affairs program goes rogue on Instagram after being axed

Sky News AU

a day ago

Aussies are baffled over The Project continuing to post on Instagram despite the current affairs news program being axed.
Network Ten earlier this month announced the show would come to an end without stating a reason after 16 years and 4,500 episodes.
In a statement, a spokesperson said "all good things come to an end" and celebrated The Project for carving out a different way of telling news.
In June, the final episode, which was extended to 90 minutes, aired with a special appearance from former hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore.
However, afterwards, The Project's social media account remained active and appears to have gone completely off the rails.
Just a day after the final episode, the show's self-proclaimed "social media hero" shared a post on Instagram mocking the bosses.
"The bosses really should have changed the password from Password1," the post read.
The mystery admin took to the caption to further poke fun at the bosses, saying, "Look who is in charge now."
"So, one question: what should I do with these accounts?"
After then posting a wholesome carousel of the show's final episode, the "social media hero" made another surprising return on Wednesday.
This time, they made humour out of The Project's cancellation, leaving fans scratching their heads in the comments.
"Still cancelled. Still curious," the post read, alongside a caption expressing sadness at having nobody to share "silly news" with.
People in the comments said the show's sudden rogue posts meant the embattled program could continue to deliver content in some capacity.
"So you're telling us there's a chance?" one fan wrote.
"Please come back!" another person wrote.
A third person called for fans to start a "petition" for the The Project's return, while others were hoping for at least its social media presence.
The mystery social media guru, appearing to revel in fans' continued interest, was fuelled to share another questionable post on Thursday.
As severe weather lashed NSW, the admin posted a video of a woman being knocked over by a cardboard box on a very windy street.
"We have been off air for less than a week, and a woman has been knocked over by a fridge box?" the admin wrote in the caption.
"You just can't make this stuff up."
"The Project lives on, we are here for it!!" a fan wrote in the comments.
"I'm all for The Project social media pages going rogue," another fan said.
"Now you know you have to keep this page," one more person said.
The Project's axing came as Ten faced mounting challenges, and the current affairs show's ratings dwindled due to criticism over its "woke" left-wing bias.
The Project featured a rotating lineup of regular presenters, including Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris, Sam Taunton, and Georgie Tunny, from Sunday through Friday.
The series' original panel consisted of Carrie Bickmore, Charlie Pickering and Dave Hughes, but its most well-known lineup was arguably Bickmore, Peter Helliar, Waleed Aly and Hamish McDonald.
Bickmore and Helliar left the Melbourne-based show in 2022 amid reported budget cuts and declining viewership at the free-to-air broadcaster.
The Project was replaced with another current affairs program called 10 News+.
The network has poached journalists from other newsrooms to front the show.