Channel Nine has axed founding host Paul Vautin from the Logie-award winning The Footy Show as the program undergoes its most dramatic overhaul in 24 years.
Footy Show executive producer Glenn Pallister this week told Vautin, who is holidaying in the US, the show would no longer exist in its current format and he would not be a part of it. Vautin has one year of his contract to run and is likely to spend it in the commentary box calling matches.
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NRL Footy Show slashes and burns
Erin Malon is the last remaining presenter after Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Darryl Brohman and Beau Ryan are axed from the NRL Footy Show.
There was confusion on Tuesday over whether the show had been axed to make way for a new one-hour program headed by Vautin's co-host Erin Molan with more of a focus on football.
Some panellists and many others at Nine have been told the show had been dumped. Others at Nine insisted it had not because The Footy Show brand was so iconic. We won't know until round one next March.
![Uncertain future: Darryl Brohman's, Paul Vautin's and Beau Ryan's futures are up in the air, while Erin Molan will host ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20171018093749im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/g/u/1/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gz2i8h.png/1508295308078.jpg)
The future of panelists Beau Ryan, who has another two years to run on his deal, remains unclear. Darryl Brohman, who is off contract, confirmed on Tuesday that he wouldn't return to the show in 2018.
It is also understood Nine will try to breathe life into a Monday night rugby league show similar to Footy Classified, which is aired in AFL states.
Nine's Sunday Footy Show hosted by James Bracey will continue.
Only last week, Nine's publicity department declared The Footy Show, which has won 11 Logies, would return in 2018 on Thursday nights.
![On the rocks: Daryl Brohman, Beau Ryan, Erin Molan and Paul Vautin, from The Footy Show.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171018093749im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/2/i/w/j/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gz2i8h.png/1508295308078.jpg)
"The NRL Footy Show also returns for its 25th season in 2018 with all the latest breaking stories and loads of fun from the world of rugby league," the media release said. "Each week, Paul 'Fatty' Vautin, Erin Molan, Beau Ryan and Darryl 'Big Marn' Brohman will be joined by some of the biggest names in the game."
The Footy Show was a ground-breaker when it first aired in the 1990s and was the scene of some of rugby league's biggest stories, including the on-air stoush between Ray Hadley and John Ribot during Super League war and Andrew Johns' confession to Phil Gould that he had battled depression and drug use during his playing career.
![Logie winner Paul Vautin.](http://web.archive.org./web/20171018093749im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/z/2/i/x/6/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gz2i8h.png/1508295308078.jpg)
But a consistent drop in ratings in recent years has put pressure on the show. Next season, Nine will broadcast 23 live matches on Thursday nights.
The news follows Monday night's shock announcement that Lisa Wilkinson was walking away from The Today Show to join Network Ten's The Project because of a pay dispute.
A Nine spokesperson said: "The program is going through some changes in style and format that is yet to be determined. Under the new broadcast deal with the NRL there will be 23 Thursday night matches next season and the show will be off the back of that. Nothing is resolved in terms of how it will look and what talent will be used."
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