Emotional Carrie Bickmore breaks down in tears as she hosts her final episode of The Project

The Project bid farewell to host Carrie Bickmore on Wednesday night, as the 41-year-old said goodbye after 13 years on the show.

The 41-year-old made a tearful final speech as she thanked her team, her family and The Project’s viewers.

‘Is it too late to change my mind?’ she laughed through tears.

She also thanked her styling team and revealed that often her outfits over the years were deemed over the top.

‘I remember early on in the show, being told that my outfits were perhaps too much – that people couldn’t look at what I was wearing and listen to what I was saying at the same time,’ she said.

Bickmore then gestured to the stunning red feathered frock she wore, adding: ‘Take this. I proved them wrong.’

Tributes flowed for the TV personality during a special edition of the Channel 10 show, featuring guest appearances like Rove McManus, Fifi Box and Rachel Corbett.

Bickmore and her fellow panellists – Waleed Aly, Peter Helliar and Tommy Little – kicked off celebrations while sipping on champagne and brutally roasting each other before a tearful first segment.

A montage then began displaying Bickmore’s outstanding efforts to raise awareness and funds to fight brain cancer, after her husband Greg passed away with the disease in 2010.

The Project’s Carrie Bickmore (left) and Rachel Corbett (right) couldn’t stop sobbing as they sat side by side on the desk

‘I will forever be thankful to The Project, but also to our viewers at home for your support and for making our foundation what it is today,’ she said through tears.

‘We have now raised over $20 million and that would not have happened if it weren’t for this place, if it weren’t for Greg and it weren’t for you watching at home – so thank you very, very much.’

Corbett, 41, was the second guest to appear on the panel, breaking down in tears as she and Bickmore looked back on their time together.

Bickmore and her fellow panellists – Waleed Aly, Peter Helliar and Tommy Little – kicked off celebrations while sipping on champagne

They also brutally roasted each other before a tearful first segment

The pair couldn’t stop sobbing as they sat side by side on the desk as they reflected on all the tearful and heartfelt stories they’d covered over the years.

‘I’m so sad you’re going because I have loved sitting next to you for the last six years,’ Corbett said through tears.

‘You are so generous, so kind, such a good performer, so smart and people love you at home because you are the perfect mix of professionalism and realness and you have given so much of yourself to this show.’

Steve Price also made a special appearance, making a surprisingly tearful and candid tribute.

‘You‘re the most impressive person I have ever worked with,’ he said as his voice cracked. ‘I mean that. You’re incredible. You know that.’

Bickmore announced her departure from The Project in October.

The Gold Logie winner has been on The Project desk since the program launched in 2009 and has since become a familiar face on Australian screens. 

She had been absent for a three month ‘sabbatical’ with her family in London earlier this year, before returning to the panel in July, only to quit in October.

Carrie announced her departure from The Project in October

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The panel looked back at all the tearful and heartfelt stories they’d covered over the years

She will continue to host the Hit Network’s national drive show with Tommy Little following her departure from The Project, an insider has confirmed.

Her management is also in talks with all three commercial networks to secure her future TV prospects as she exits Channel 10.

Sarah Harris, who previously hosted Studio 10, will take her role on The Project. 

Sarah recently told Stellar magazine: ‘I did not see this coming. And I’m still trying to wrap my head around it.’

The Gold Logie winner has been on The Project desk since the program launched in 2009

Bickmore has since become a familiar face on Australian screens

‘It’s such an incredible opportunity to step into some pretty huge shoes and be part of The Project’s next chapter.

‘I can’t wait to learn more, and have some fun with Waleed and the team. This is one of the biggest jobs in TV, and feels like a once-in-a-lifetime gig’.

Carrie’s co-stars Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Helliar also shocked viewers when they both announced their departures from the struggling current affairs program last week.

Peter, 47, announced he was leaving The Project on Tuesday night and explained he decided to quit following the departure of his co-host Carrie.

‘Carrie, you recently said that you are glad you’re leaving The Project while you still love it and I still love the show. I really do,’ he explained.

‘The Project means a lot to me. It’s done amazing things for me. I interviewed Luke Skywalker once… and I look forward to see what the show is in the future.’

He also told Nova’s Fitzy & Wippa on Wednesday, he wants to ‘do things with my life professionally and personally’.

‘[There are] things I want to do with my life, not just professionally but personally and I’ve already booked into the ashes in London next year,’ he said.

‘It’s not just 10 years on The Project. But before that is like 10 years on Rove Live in the office every day.’

Lisa announced on November, 20, she was quitting effective immediately.

Carrie’s co-stars Lisa Wilkinson and Peter Helliar also shocked viewers when they both announced their departures from the struggling current affairs program last week

The embattled TV presenter, 62, made the shock admission at the end of Sunday night’s episode, leaving viewers stunned.

‘I have decided it’s time to reprioritise a few things in my life,’ the TV veteran began alongside co-hosts Hamish Macdonald and The Bachelor’s Laura Byrne.

‘And after almost 15 years of the early alarm of breakfast TV, and now another five years here at The Project desk, I’m looking at how I want the coming years to play out both professionally and personally.

Lisa’s exit comes after a controversial year for the television presenter, during which she was taken off air following her disastrous Logies speech that resulted in a rape trial being delayed.

Bickmore said she was going to miss her ‘mates on the desk’ and the ‘wonderful viewers’ who have supported the show for over a decade