![\"Kayla](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792116852_441_8c115ae7ce966009121f78346f9081b2fa2155d8db17a27ec86aa7bafbd296bf.png\")
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Updated October 16, 2026 \u2014 11:07am,first published October 16, 2026 \u2014 7:52am<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Sports presenter Danika Mason has joined the exodus from the Today show, announcing her departure from the program on Friday morning.<\/p>\n \u201cBit of news from me … I\u2019m going on maternity leave,\u201d Mason said on the show. \u201cI\u2019ve had to make the decision as to whether what I do when I come back next year \u2026 obviously juggling all my NRL commitments, [the] Today show, and then a new baby as well.<\/p>\n \u201cSomething had to give, so I\u2019ve made a pretty tough decision … when I return next year, I won\u2019t be coming back to the show.\u201d<\/p>\n Mason\u2019s announcement marks the fourth high-profile departure of Today presenters since June, when the network terminated media personality Karl Stefanovic\u2019s multimedia contract after an interview with far-right British activist Tommy Robinson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Last month, Stefanovic\u2019s former co-host, Sarah Abo, confirmed while she was on maternity leave that she was leaving the program, while weather presenter Tim Davies announced in August he would leave the show. Sylvia Jeffreys and Tom Steinfort<\/a> were in September announced as the new hosts of Today.<\/p>\n Mason is one of Nine\u2019s NRL and sports presenters and joined Today in May 2025, after beginning at Nine (also the owner of this masthead) in 2012.<\/p>\n In July, Mason, who is married to former NRL prop Liam Knight, announced she was pregnant. The decision to leave the program was not easy, Mason said on air.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve absolutely loved my time with everyone. We have the best audience, we have the best team, and it has been an absolute, just such a fun two years, and everyone who is in here in the morning, all our floor crew, you guys are just amazing, and I\u2019ve had the best time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In February, Mason made international headlines and had to apologise for drinking<\/a> before an awkward live cross from the Winter Olympics in Italy, during which she stumbled over her words.<\/p>\n Related Article Mason\u2019s departure comes at a dire time for Nine\u2019s flagship breakfast program, which continues to lag Seven\u2019s Sunrise in the hard-fought timeslot.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, Sunrise boasted a 421,000 total national average audience rating, while Today was well behind at 273,000.<\/p>\n The appointments of Jeffreys and Steinfort followed an era of the show marked by a rotating roster of fill-in hosts. Jeffreys recently revealed she is pregnant with her third child and is likely to be on maternity leave for at least a few months early next year, which suggests the hosting shuffling will continue to some extent.<\/p>\n Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n No gift articles left<\/p>\n You’ve used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.<\/p>\n Close![\"Today](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/697c5287f6a9f1f8ca854e9f4ff8d911ea5a40fa.jpeg\")
Today sport presenter Danika Mason has announced she is leaving the show.Instagram<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/517fd798a0c6201f0dfb74615dc7d5079cd56c0f394a637baf50dc327c3e3356.jpeg\")
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Kayla Olaya<\/a> is a culture reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated October 16, 2026 \u2014 11:07am,first published October 16, 2026 \u2014 7:52am Save You have reached your maximum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":929746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-929745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=929745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/929745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/929746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=929745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=929745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=929745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}