E! Entertainment (DStv 124) confirmed the widely expected announcement on Thursday night, announcing that Maria Menounos who has slowly been pushing Giuliana Rancic out, will be taking over as the new co-anchor of E! News.
The ambitious Maria Menounos has reportedly been steadily gunning for Giuliana Rancic's job since joining E! Entertainment in May last year, edging in on Giuliana Rancic's turf by taking over some red carpet hosting duties, doing her own show Untold with Maria Menounos, and appearing on E! News and across various other E! shows like Live from E!.
Giuliana Rancic who didn't want to appear to have been "pushed out of the network she helped to make a success", actually had her contract extended by two years to mid-2016, but eventually bailed on E!, announcing earlier this month that she's quitting as E! News anchor.
Giuliana Rancic will however continue to make appearances on the 3rd revamp of the derailed Fashion Police returning soon for the 36th Primetime Emmy Awards and continue to do red carpet coverage.
Giuliana Rancic joined E! Entertainment in 2002 as a correspondent for E! News and has been anchoring the show which came to the brink of cancellation since January 2005 when she revived its viewership and turned it into a success.
Maria Menounos will now co-anchor E! News alongside Terrence Jenkins after Giuliana Rancic makes her exit from the daily entertainment news show on 10 August.
Since Maria Menounos joined E!, several insider reports detailed how the two women allegedly couldn't stand each other.
Insiders said they've witnessed how Giuliana Rancic over the past few months refused to talk to Maria Menounos and went out of her way not to be in the same room as her when off-camera, aware of Maria Menounos plotting a so-called "take-over".
Besides Jason Kennedy and Catt Sadler, E! News is also adding three new correspondents, Zuri Hall, Erin Lim and Sibley Scoles who will report for the show.
"As an established entertainment and news journalist with strong Hollywood connections, Maria Menounos has proven herself to be a great fit with the E! News team," says John Najarian, E! executive vice president of news and digital in a statement announcing her show upgrade.
"With their diverse backgrounds and wide-ranging areas of expertise, Sibley Scoles, Erin Lim and Zuri Hall will be key additions to E! News which boasts the youngest and most affluent audience amongst all entertainment shows," says John Najarian.
"We are thrilled with E! News' success as we continue to integrate the show more closely with the network's digital platforms and to create new ways of engaging with an evolving audience that consumes information and entertainment across multiple screens."
