Johanna Griggs has pulled the pin on her House Rules hosting gig, in a week that has now seen two reality TV shows lose longstanding talent.

Griggs, 45, shared the news of her surprise defection with her 71.1k Instagram followers after Melbourne dancers Pete and Courtney were crowned 2019 winners of Seven’s renovation show on Tuesday.

“After a great deal of consideration, I recently sat down with the network to ask to be allowed to step down as host of House Rules,” Griggs wrote.

Seven, she said, “very graciously” complied with her wishes after her seven seasons on House Rules.

With the Logie-nominated show due to go into preproduction for the next season, “it’s the perfect time to hand over the role to someone”, Griggs said.

Fans rushed to social media to farewell the “irreplaceable” and “unpretentious” Griggs. “Best in the biz,” one wrote on Instagram.

One of Seven’s most popular stars, Griggs has had a packed schedule this year, combining the House Rules gig with her hosting role on Seven’s Better Homes and Gardens.

She is also dedicated to tending to animals and produce at the Hunter Valley, NSW, farm she shares with her husband Todd Huggins, and doting on grandson Jax.

Griggs will keep her Better Homes and Gardens job – she’s had it since 2005 – “which everyone knows I’m crazy about”, she wrote. That role “keeps me very busy”, she wrote.

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A post shared by Johanna Griggs AM (@johgriggs7)

But the former competitive swimmer, who won a backstroke bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, hinted she might go back to her first “passion”, sport.

Word is she’ll have a pivotal role on Seven’s 2020 Tokyo Olympics coverage.

“Hopefully now though, with a different work load, I’ll be in a better position to take up one or two of the great opportunities that come my way, especially with 7 Sport,” Griggs wrote.

Last month, she told The New Daily she had loved this season of House Rules because it came with a makeover for her as well as the featured homes.

“I’m not a size eight, I’m six feet (1.83 metres) tall. I’m not your standard television size,” Griggs said.

“Every stylist I’d had up until [this year] dressed me like it was grab-a-granny night at the RSL.”

Saying she was on the road for much of the year, she looked forward to being on the farm where her go-to outfit is “an Akubra, jeans and a ‘flanny’ “, she told The New Daily.

Just five days ago, a barefaced Griggs posted she was taking a couple of weeks off for a holiday that had had to be changed twice to accommodate shooting schedules.

“I’m sooooo looking forward to some quality time with my husband and just totally recharging completely,” the star said.

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A post shared by Johanna Griggs AM (@johgriggs7)

The news that Griggs is jumping ship comes just after Ten’s sensational announcement on Tuesday that all three of its entrenched MasterChef judges are leaving the tasting table.

Matt Preston, Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris had negotiated with Ten for six months but failed to come to a satisfactory pay deal with the network.

It was claimed they all wanted a pay rise of about 40 per cent on their existing salaries, which were reported to be between $600,000 and $1 million per season.

That bombshell announcement came in the wake of Calombaris having to repay $7.8 million to staff who had been underpaid by his restaurant empire.

Ten is now hunting for new judges, with frontrunners said to include former MasterChef contestants Poh Ling Yeow and Adam Liaw, and chef Curtis Stone.

The New Daily contacted Seven about its own search for Griggs’ replacement but the network isn’t “releasing anything at this stage”, a spokesperson said.