Sunrise co-anchor David ‘Kochie’ Koch is taking extended leave so he can attend his daughter’s wedding in London.
The father of four, 66, who has hosted Channel Seven’s breakfast show since 2002, will be off work for about three weeks.
He announced his temporary exit in the closing moments of Thursday’s broadcast.
Sunrise co-anchor David ‘Kochie’ Koch (centre right) is taking extended leave so he can attend his daughter’s wedding in London. The father of four, 66, will be off work for about three weeks
Koch, who just weeks ago was forced to leave work early due to a bout of laryngitis, said he was looking forward to walking his daughter Georgie down the aisle.
But he admitted he was slightly nervous because he hasn’t yet met the family of his future son-in-law Alex Merkel.
‘We’re all sharing a house with him and his parents for a week before the wedding and we’ve never met them,’ he said.
‘It’ll either be Father of the Bride or Nightmare on Elm Street,’ he joked.
Alex and Georgie, who live in London, got engaged in September last year.
Koch was replaced on Friday’s episode of Sunrise by Olympian-turned-sportscaster Matt Shirvington, who now appears to be his regular fill-in presenter.
In the past, Weekend Sunrise co-anchor Matt Doran was typically the go-to stand-in for Koch when he took time off.
But Doran seems to have fallen out of favour with Seven executives since his infamous botched interview with Adele that resulted in a blitz of negative headlines.
Koch will be back on the Sunrise desk with Natalie Barr in the middle of next month.
