Yes, Jesse Mulligan is still on RNZ. He hosts Afternoons on RNZ National every weekday from 1pm to 4pm, a job he has held since July 2015. He is married to psychologist Victoria Dawson-Wheeler, they have four children, and he is also the NZ Herald Viva restaurant critic behind the Top 50 list.
Plenty of people search “where has Jesse Mulligan gone” when a fill-in host takes the Afternoons chair for a week. He has not gone anywhere. Here is what he does now, who his wife is and how a law student from Hamilton ended up in Auckland’s best restaurants.
Is Jesse Mulligan still on RNZ?
He is. RNZ’s schedule for the last week of October 2026 lists him as host of Afternoons from 1.06pm to 4pm, Monday to Friday. The show includes the daily pre-Panel chat with Wallace Chapman.
RNZ announced him as the new Afternoons host in July 2015, replacing Simon Mercep, and he started on Monday 27 July 2015. That makes 2026 his eleventh year in the slot. His RNZ bio also lists NZ Live and the podcasts Crimes NZ and Sports History NZ among his work.
He told The Spinoff in 2018: “RNZ is the only thing I’ve done that everyone seemed to like from day one, if I’m honest.”
Who is Jesse Mulligan’s wife?
His wife is Victoria Dawson-Wheeler, a psychologist. His RNZ bio says he lives in Grey Lynn, Auckland, with his wife Victoria and their four children.
Their wedding date has not been made public.
Jesse Mulligan’s children
Mulligan and Victoria have four children, two daughters and two sons. The fourth was announced in typical style: in November 2018 he revealed the baby news live on The Project. “I only ever remember agreeing to one of them, but things happen and here we are and I’m so, so excited,” he said.
He has not published his children’s names, and we are not going to guess them.
How old is Jesse Mulligan?
His exact birth date is not public. The Spinoff gave his age as 42 in a profile published in May 2018, which would put him at 50 or 51 in late 2026.
He grew up in Hamilton and was educated there “from kindergarten through to his Bachelor of Laws at the University of Waikato”, according to RNZ. His full name is Jesse Robert Turi Mulligan.
Jesse Mulligan’s restaurant reviews and the Viva Top 50
Mulligan writes a weekly restaurant review for NZ Herald Viva, where he is the dining out editor, and he writes about food for Herald Travel. Before that he reviewed for Metro. He also runs a Substack newsletter called I Ate Auckland.
He judges the Viva Top 50 Restaurant Awards. The 2025 list, the fifth edition, came out on 19 November 2025, and the Supreme Winner was Tala, a Samoan restaurant in Parnell run by Henry and Debby Onesemo. Mulligan surprised the couple with the news and explained the judges’ test: “Our ultimate test when we’re choosing a Supreme Winner is we ask, ‘where would you be excited to send someone?'”
The 2026 Top 50 had not been published as of late October 2026.
From student comedy to The Project, role by role
- 1996: wins a university comedy competition with a 10-minute set written in the style of his hero Garry Shandling, and makes the student variety show Static TV in Hamilton.
- Wellington years: spends about a decade on More FM breakfast radio in Wellington and also works in corporate PR.
- 7 Days: becomes head writer on the Three comedy panel show, then a regular panellist.
- 2013 to April 2014: one of the three original hosts of Seven Sharp on TVNZ 1.
- 2014 and 2015: hosts Best Bits on TV One.
- July 2015: takes over RNZ Afternoons.
- 2017 to 2023: hosts The Project on Three, first with Kanoa Lloyd and Josh Thomson. RNZ reported in October 2023 that the show would end that year, and he fronted the final episode.
- Now: RNZ Afternoons, Viva restaurant reviews and the Top 50, and the RNZ podcast Sports History NZ.
Looking back on his career, he told The Spinoff: “Most of my life, I’ve done things that haven’t been successful.”
Frequently asked questions
Is Jesse Mulligan married?
Yes. He is married to Victoria Dawson-Wheeler, a psychologist, and they have four children.
Where does Jesse Mulligan live?
He lives in Grey Lynn, Auckland, with Victoria and their children.
Did Jesse Mulligan host Seven Sharp?
Yes. He was one of the show’s first three hosts when it launched in 2013 and left in April 2014.
What happened to The Project?
Three ended The Project at the end of 2023. Mulligan, Kanoa Lloyd and Jeremy Corbett were the hosts when it finished.
What podcast does Jesse Mulligan host?
He hosts the RNZ podcast Sports History NZ, produced by Justin Gregory.
