Dina Pugliese has announced she’s stepping down as co-host of Citytv’s Breakfast Television after 16 years with the show.
We love you, @dinapugliese
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— Breakfast Television (@breakfasttv) February 15, 2023
The veteran Toronto television personality made the announcement Wednesday morning, citing burnout and the toll the early morning, four-hour live show has had on her health over the years.
“The hours never got easier,” Pugliese told viewers. “When I started this job I was getting up at 4 a.m., maybe 4:30 if I was pushing it. During the height of the pandemic it was 1:30 to deal with all of the challenges, and now it’s been consistently 2:30, sometimes I push it til 3. I find more and more it has taken both a mental and physical toll and we got to listen to ourselves. We know the importance of our health and I’m taking that to heart. I’m listening.”
Pugliese says she plans on spending more quality time with her family, travelling with her husband (campayn.com founder Alek Mirkovich), and devoting more of her schedule to her clean beauty line, The Care Principle, which she launched three years ago as a passion project.
The host got emotional as she talked about the bond she has built with both viewers and co-workers over the years.
“All I’m doing is tossing out my 2:30 a.m. alarm clock and that’s it,” asserted Pugliese. “This bond is way too special. It is something that has happened over 16 years together, every single day, through a pandemic no less…I thank you so much for letting me into your living rooms, into your hearts, into your lives and I’m going to miss you…”
Pugliese’s last day on the show will be Friday, Feb. 24.
She first joined BT in 2006, alongside co-host Kevin Frankish, when she replaced Liza Fromer. Following Frankish’s departure from the network in 2018, she was paired with Roger Petersen, until Sid Seixeiro joined the show in early 2021.
Raised in Woodbridge, ON, Pugliese started her career as a producer for The Bynon Show on Global and Toronto 1’s Toronto Today. A graduate of both York University and the Humber College Journalism program, she eventually moved into entertainment reporting for The A-List and Star!’s Star! Daily. Pugliese has also hosted Canada’s Got Talent and the MuchMusic VJ Search for which she earned a Gemini nomination in 2006. She’s been nominated for Best Host, Talk Show or Entertainment News at the Canadian Screen Awards the past two years in a row, while BT has been named Best Morning Show consecutively since 2020.
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