Grant Denyer weathers the storm after quitting as Sunrise weather presenter Grant Denyer. GRANT Denyer knew he was taking a mighty risk when he quit his job as weather presenter on Sunrise. It has been six months since the 35-year-old shocked viewers with his on-air announcement that he was ending his time on the Channel 7 breakfast show. At the time Denyer said he had made the bombshell decision because he wanted to spend more time with wife, Cheryl, and two-year-old daughter Sailor. In June, Denyer revealed that poor health had prompted the exit. After more than three years travelling all around the country for Sunrise, he was burnt out. Denyer suffered from severe exhaustion and dropped 15kg in weight. Something had to give and that something was his job. "It was almost career suicide but I had no choice," Denyer says. I was at the point where my body couldn't take anymore. I just baled. I called it on the fly. I announced it on air with nothing to go to whatsoever. I was worried that it would be my last move in television. As far as I was aware, my whole value (to Seven) was being in Sunrise and Sunrise alone. That was very important for the network. I stared down the barrel of kissing goodbye to a career. I was absolutely s--- scared they (Seven) wouldn't want me anymore. Things are very different today. Denyer says he is nearly back to full health and his career is going gangbusters, too. Denyer hosts hit light entertainment program Slide Show, where contestants act out comedy skits on a set that is tilted at 22.5 degrees. "I was in need of something new, a break from what I had done (on Sunrise)," Denyer admits. I was in the CEO's (Tim Worner) office a fortnight after my big sleep and he said, 'I've got this French show, don't understand it, but it looks like it might be funny,' and that was Slide Show. It (SlideShow) is mindless but what's the problem with that? It is harmless. I don't think TV should always have the role of educating you or being life changing every single program. There is room for more. I really like it because it brings people together as families in the lounge room. It is a return to making TV for entertainment's sake. Derby Day. Flemington. Grant and Chezzi Denyer Source: News Limited Now Denyer is set to take on Eddie McGuire and Hot Seat when he hosts quiz show Million Dollar Minute. Seven desperately needs Million Dollar Minute to work in the 5.30pm timeslot. Declining ratings for Deal or No Deal, hosted by Andrew O'Keefe, has hurt the network's all-important 6pm news bulletin, especially in Sydney and Melbourne. Million Dollar Minute is a return to a simpler, rapid-fire quiz-show format after the razzle dazzle of Deal. The show starts with three contestants facing a series of general knowledge questions. The player with the highest score at the end of each episode will play for a nightly jackpot, starting at $20,000.in the Million Dollar Minute round. Win eight rounds in a row (over eight nights) and they willtake home $1 million. I didn't realise Million Dollar Minute had been bubbling away in secret at Seven for quite some time. I'd heard that there was a pilot around and I was asked to audition as host," Denyer says. Seven is very serious about it. When they flagged it with me first time I went, no. It didn't feel right. I didn't want to be a game show host and never have. But then I thought about it and went, you know what, I didn't want to present weather either (and that turned out to be a great success). I realised that I don't think the current batch of game shows are any good. I don't think they give a lot to the viewer at home. I don't particularly enjoy watching them. When I looked at the (Million Dollar Minute) concept I thought it was a much better concept and perhaps the timing is right. Given the timeslot and the importance of it in the war between the networks and my competitive hungry side that likes a bit of a challenge (kicked in). This is a pure game show, a battle of general knowledge. We did an analysis the other day and (on Hot Seat) in half an hour you'll get 15 questions. We'll deliver 15 questions within two minutes - and that's the difference. Denyer is glad to back in night-time television. His return to Sunrise in 2010 (his first weather presenting stint lasted from 2004 until the end of 2006) brought an end to a run of prime-time shows, including It Takes Two and Australia's Got Talent. Denyer was also a contestant on Dancing with the Stars and hosted the short-lived Iron Chef. Denyer has copped his fair share of criticism along the way, mainly from media scribes who find him too perky, too upbeat, more than a bit overbearing. Maybe it is time they gave him some respect. The Aussie public clearly likes him. He has an impressive track record of hits in a TV career that now spans 15 years. Denyer started as a news reporter at Prime Television in Wagga Wagga in 1997 and went on to become a pit reporter for Ten's V8 Supercars telecasts. His big break came when producer Adam Boland offered him the weather role on Sunrise - and the rest is history. "I've never been a critics' favourite - ever," Denyer says. That is probably because of my 'class clown' approach to making television sometimes. I look a bit haphazard. I'm not a polished, red carpet-walking celebrity. I'm not driven by that or hungry for that at all. I enjoy making a different kind of television and I guess sometimes that makes it a little bit hard to put into a box. Plenty of people don't like me, that is for sure. (Media) critics certainly don't. Professionals in the industry really don't look at me with much favour but, thankfully, I resonate pretty well with viewers. I think some of that has to do with the fact that I'm really a race-car driver first and TV presenter second. It is terrifying (to be taking on Eddie McGuire) but I'm always hungry for new challenges - of breaking into that (5.30pm) timeslot and shaking it up a little. When I was doing Sunrise I didn't have time for anything else. I don't know where my career will go but it is starting to go somewhere. Million Dollar Minute, Channel 7, 5.30pm, weekdays.