Six months on from joining The Project, Sarah Harris on why she couldn’t say no to her dream role

On her routine flight from Sydney to Melbourne, Sarah Harris often enjoys a quiet moment. Mondays, as most parents will attest, are “madness” as she readies her two sons for school before heading to the airport. It’s a huge adjustment for The Project co-host who, since January, divides her time between two states in order to do what she loves – and still be there for the people she loves.

It’s an incredible privilege, Sarah says, but it hasn’t been easy. In the past six months, the journalist and presenter has turned her life upside down while facing more scrutiny than ever as she tackles one of primetime television’s most coveted jobs.

“The show has had some particularly tough weeks,” Sarah tells TV WEEK from the set of The Project in Melbourne.

“I’ve had airline staff come up to me on the plane and say, ‘It’s been a rough week in the headlines – here’s another glass of wine or a few extra chocolates.’ People are incredibly kind.”

Sarah is no stranger to the media glare and during her 20-year career has become adept at blocking it out.

“You have to for your own mental health,” she says, but admits the conversations about how she would measure up to her predecessors made it feel like an impossible task. In a shock exodus, Carrie Bickmore, Peter Helliar and Lisa Wilkinson all left the show in 2022. When Sarah was announced as Carrie’s replacement, the news erupted into a frenzy of speculation.

“It’s really hard,” Sarah says of the unfair comparisons. “I’ve watched The Project since it began and when Carrie announced she was leaving to be at home for her kids, hand on heart, I know exactly how that feels, and wondered how they could possibly replace her. She is the show! At the time, I thought, ‘I’m in a good place at Studio 10, my kids are starting school, I’m good’… then it all happened.”

The offer to co-host The Project took Sarah by surprise. She had just finished filming promotional material for Studio 10, the morning program she’d helmed since 2013, and was “terrified” at the thought of taking the job.

But Sarah, who always believed she would end up working in breakfast TV, knew she couldn’t pass on potentially the biggest moment of her career.

“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and have regrets,” she says. “I’d rather give it a go and fail spectacularly than wonder what could have happened. I want to give things a red-hot crack and know I lived. There are times when I have Imposter Syndrome, asking, ‘Is Carrie coming back?’ [Laughs] But I have to try.”

Echoing the footsteps of her sons Paul, seven, and five-year-old Harry, who started school this year, Sarah had a similar “first day” experience at The Project. Nervous and eager, she soaked in her new surroundings and quickly found she wasn’t alone. Co-host and “lunch buddy” Waleed Aly is always on hand for advice, some of which was, ‘Don’t read the good stuff and don’t read the bad stuff.’

“It was really good guidance, because when your self-worth relies on every comment, you lose it. You can lose your mind a little bit,” she says.

Then there was Hamish Macdonald and Georgie Tunny, who’ve been regulars on the program, plus newcomers Sam Taunton and Michael Hing.

“It worked for me in that I wasn’t the only new kid on the panel,” Sarah explains. “Sam and Hing arrived and we’re always going to look after each other. The boys are a bit younger than me, as is Georgie, so I feel like a mother hen to them in a way.”

While people were vocal about why they thought the show wouldn’t work, Sarah and the team strove to prove why it could. But progress takes time.

“We’re just getting settled and finding our way now,” she says. “It’s hard, because we come into people’s lounge rooms everyday as they sit with their families – it’s a huge privilege. And at the start, you’re essentially a stranger. They don’t know you, your vibe and what you stand for.

“When I hosted [business reality show] Shark Tank [in 2014] Steve Baxter would say, ‘You just have to break some rocks.’ He meant you have to do the hard work. So we’re trying new things every day and doing the work. There’s definitely been a turn and there’s a good feeling about it.”

Taking on her dream job came with a personal sacrifice too. Working interstate takes her away from her boys, who spend their other days with their father, Sarah’s ex-husband Tom Ward. The pair, who were married for six years, announced their separation in 2021.

“The boys have Daddy time in those few days a week and they love it,” she says. “The fact that I have such a great co-parenting relationship makes it so much smoother too. [At the time of her promotion] Tom said to me, ‘This is your dream job. We’ll make it work.’ To know I have that support is essential.”

Dividing her time can be tricky, but Sarah doesn’t see her life as any more difficult than that of other working parents. In fact, sometimes it allows her to be completely present.

“In some ways, I have it easier, because it’s very compartmentalised,” she says. “When I’m in Melbourne, I’m on the job and still chat to the kids a lot over the phone. Then, when I’m in Sydney and with the kids, I put my phone down. People can’t get hold of me. The juggle is incredibly real, but my kids are fantastic and so resilient.”

While she enjoyed having Paul and Harry in Melbourne recently, she says moving them there would be a “much, much bigger” conversation. For now, they’re happy. And, despite her latest success, she’ll always be Mum to them.

“I love the mundaneness of motherhood – making lunches and going to sport – so it was a big thing to realise I couldn’t do that every day,” Sarah says. “But I have my dream job. It’s a constant negotiation within yourself. All my mum friends are fighting the same battle to pay the bills, raise their children and find something that lights a fire within.”

As for whether this is truly the peak of her career, Sarah says it would have to come close.

“It’s pretty bloody good,” she says with a grin. “You should have nerves, otherwise it’s not worth doing. I’m there five days a week, giving it my best and enjoying it. More and more I feel like I belong in the chair.”