The Project star Georgie Tunny breaks her silence on the show's shock axing last year - and reveals wedding plans with fiancé Rob Mills

Georgie Tunny has finally broken her silence after Channel Ten's long-running panel show The Project was axed in 2025, after 16 years on the air.

The veteran presenter, who appeared on the show from 2022 - 2025, said it was a bittersweet experience to see so much support from the community in the wake of its axing, given it was cancelled due to dwindling ratings.

'What I've learnt is that everyone needs a punching bag, and the earlier punches hit the hardest,' Georgie told Stellar magazine's Something To Talk About podcast.

'When the show ended there was such outpouring of grief, love for it. We all looked around and thought: "Where were you? Where were you for the last four months when speculation about the show was in overdrive? Where did you all come from?".'

Georgie added she didn’t like it when viewers criticised the series over minor things instead of considering its place in the wider media landscape.

'Looking at the bigger picture, The Project employed almost 100 people. So many people lost their jobs,' she said.

'That's their livelihood. I think people are quick to forget that when they see a camera angle they don't like, or they don't like the way my hair looks on a particular day.' 

She also revealed she and her fiancé Rob Mills were ready to get married - and were just deciding on the date.

'I'd love to marry Rob this year. I'm ready for him to be my husband,' she said. 

'I'd love to be able to confirm that 2026 is going to be the year we get married, but we still haven't done anything about it. I hear that weddings take a lot of work and planning.' 

Georgie and Australian Idol star Rob Mills announced their engagement in January 2022, after three years of dating. 

In June last year, it was announced that Channel Ten's long-running series The Project was being axed. 

Network 10 announced the news, sharing a post to Facebook thanking viewers for their support before announcing the show's replacement.

At the time, Georgie took to social media to post a tribute to her TV 'family' in the wake of the show's cancellation. 

Sharing a photo of herself alongside co-hosts Waleed Aly, Sarah Harris and Sam Taunton, the 35-year-old journalist included a caption expressing her heartbreak.

'Goodbyes are hard, but with this team and this show… this one is going to hit differently,' she began. 

'I dreamed of working on a show like The Project when I was growing up. 

'That dream became a reality, but it was never a show... it was a family. From the start. What a ride. X.'

The Project first aired in July 2009 and exceeded more than a million metro viewers at the height of its success - It boasted a rotating panel with stars like Aly, Harris, Tunny, Hamish Macdonald, Rove McManus, Taunton and Susie Youssef.

It won several accolades including 11 Logie Awards - two of which were viewer-voted Gold Logies won by Aly and Bickmore.

However, audiences began to dwindle in recent years and towards its end, The Project attracted between 238,000 and 357,000 viewers nationally.