The Project hosts’ salaries revealed; Lisa Wilkinson ‘earning the most’

The rumoured annual salaries of The Project’s presenters have been revealed.

The Australian reported on Monday that Waleed Aly had inked a ‘seven-figure’ deal with Channel 10 that will see him continue to host the current affairs show four nights a week ‘until the mid-2020s’.

It was previously reported he had been earning an estimated $900,000 a year.

However, Aly’s co-hosts Lisa Wilkinson and Carrie Bickmore are said to be earning almost twice as much.

Wilkinson, 62, out-earning Aly is surprising given she primarily hosts The Sunday Project and makes comparatively fewer appearances on the weekday edition.

However, she likely commands a bigger salary due to her longer career in the media that gives her greater bargaining power in pay negotiations. 

In November, The Daily Telegraph claimed Wilkinson was pocketing an enormous $1.7million per year while Bickmore was believed to be on $1.5million.

It comes after Bickmore announced last Tuesday was taking an extended break from The Project to spend a school term in the UK with her partner Chris Walker and their three children.

Deals: Wilkinson, 62, out-earning Aly (left) is surprising given she primarily hosts The Sunday Project and makes comparatively fewer appearances on the weekday edition. Carrie Bickmore (right), who is about to take three months’ leave, is also believed to be earning more than him

‘In April I’m going to be taking a few months off The Project desk. Chris and I and the kids are heading off on a family adventure together,’ she said. 

‘We’ve been wanting to do it for a while, but for lots of reasons, the timing hasn’t been right, but we figure it’s never going to be the perfect time to go.

‘It’s something we really want to do before my son starts his final years at school so we’re doing term two in the UK. So I will be off for a couple of months.’

Cha-ching! In November, The Daily Telegraph claimed Wilkinson was pocketing an enormous $1.7million per year while Bickmore was believed to be on $1.5million

Last year, OzTAM ratings revealed Channel 10’s flagship current affairs program had lost almost a third of its audience since 2011.

The show saw its metro ratings plummet to an all-time low of just 367,000 last year.

That’s a 30 per cent decline from its five-city audience of 538,000 a decade earlier. 

Major move: Bickmore announced last Tuesday was taking an extended break from The Project to spend a school term in the UK with her partner Chris Walker and their three children