Today show hosts Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight appeared as guests on Kyle and Jackie O’s KIIS radio show for an interview today, where they spoke about their rocky start and the “hurtful” comments they’ve received ever since the new show’s line-up went live on air.
Towards the end of the segment, controversial radio host, Kyle Sandilands, rang former Today host Karl Stefanovic, but was met with his voicemail.
“That was a total screen,” remarked Knight.
Sandilands told those listening that he had gotten in touch with Stefanovic before the interview, suggesting he call in to speak to Knight and Gardner.
“I wrote to him, ‘We’ve got the two ladies who do the Today show on, the replacement and your ex-co-host’,” he said.
According to Sandilands, Stefanovic responded by sending a photo of Freddy Krueger as his character from the Nightmare on Elm Street movie.
But ever since the radio star made those comments, Stefanovic has hit back with a few claims of his own.
“Kyle and I were talking about a former Russian president, not the Today show cast,” Stefanovic said.
“He has a fertile, funny and disturbing imagination. I don’t know how Jackie puts up with him.”
While the new Today show cast brought about a media frenzy, on-air the story was much more different.
The once popular morning show was hit with terrible ratings after the new look Today debuted last week, with the two hosts telling Kyle and Jackie O that they were still “finding their banter” together.
“(Two female hosts) is a new format for the Australian market, so it’s been getting a lot of attention. But it’s the best people for the job, regardless of your gender. We play to our strengths – we’re both very different people and we’re finding our banter as a duo,” said Knight.
Gardner then said that on the first day she could feel “the heaviness of that scrutiny”.
“You just can’t hide in TV. Every look, every expression, every side glance is analysed and scrutinised. Often the analysis of it is quite wrong, by the way,” she said.
“Also, we were written off in the first half-hour of the show. This commentary was coming through … Usually when you review a show, you wait for it to finish,” said Knight.
Gardner also shut down rumours that claimed she had “secret meetings” with Nine executives to remove Stefanovic from his sought-after position.
“No secret meetings. I’d actually left town and was quite removed. Obviously, I was involved and consulted out of respect in terms of who’d be Karl’s replacement. As you’d expect, given the importance and stature of the gig, there was a lot of discussion and consultation. When they said it was Deb, I was as thrilled as anyone,” she said.
December was a rocky month for the Today show, with Stefanovic leaving and the entire cast, excluding Gardner, having been replaced.
Are you enjoying the new Today show team? Let us know in the comments below.
