Sunrise presenter Natalie Barr has opened up about her ‘feud’ with Channel Nine’s Today.
In an interview with Yahoo! on Friday, the 55-year-old Channel Seven star said the rivalry between the warring breakfast shows was like the Matildas and their opponents – intense but ultimately “friendly.”
“Well, we don’t hate each other like everyone thinks everyone hates each other on TV,” she said.
Natalie said she often talks to Today host Karl Stefanovic when they run into each other, adding that she has nothing “against him.”
“It’s like people doing sports,” she explained.
Natalie Barr, 55 (pictured) of Channel Seven compared the Sunrise team to the Matildas and Karl Stefanovic’s Today to their opponents on the field in an interview with Yahoo on Friday
The host continued: “You know, they chat off the pitch – we’ve just watched the Matildas run a brilliant campaign and look at them at the end – they all shake hands and we’ve seen some of them hug the ball.” resist and comfort them when they cry.
Still, Nat says she definitely doesn’t want Today’s “team” to win.
‘Let’s be serious, I don’t want the opposition to win, and I’m sure they don’t want us to win either! But you know, we’re not total enemies either, just on the field.”
In an interview with Woman’s Day last month, Nat spoke about the pressure she felt to cover the Channel Nine breakfast show.
“We look at the ratings every day and yes, we want to win,” said Barr.
Nat said she often sees Today presenter Karl Stefanovic (pictured) around the traps and they are friendly – but when it comes to the TV breakfast ‘we don’t want Nine to win’
Channel Seven’s Sunrise has consistently topped the ratings in the breakfast TV wars against Nine’s Today.
“I was on the radio with Karl a few weeks ago,” she continued.
“I’ve known him for a long time and we like each other, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to beat each other! We don’t want them to win.’
The breakfast show TV rivalry came to a head in May when Stefanovic and Barr appeared together on live radio.
Nova FM’s Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel drive show hosted the warring hosts for a friendly play on words and tensions reached an all-time high.
Despite admitting that the pair got along well outside of work, Barr traded several barbs with her “opposition,” including pretending to forget Stefanovic’s name.
The host said: ‘You know, they’re chatting off the pitch – we’ve just watched the Matildas run a brilliant campaign and look at them at the end – they’re all shaking hands, and we’ve seen some of them hugging the opposition and comfort them when they cry.’ The Matildas are depicted
“It’s not easy to look at each other and be such fierce competitors,” the Today host noted. “Look at the daggers.”
Tensions aside, the Channel Seven star confessed, “We’re not actually bothered by each other.”
To which Stefanovic joked, “That’s not true.”
‘Do you hate me? Okay, I hate you more,” Barr replied.
It all ended well, however, when Karl ended the playful argument by saying, ‘Well, you’re successful, and I’m not. So there.’
Sunrise was turned upside down in June when presenter David ‘Kochie’ Koch finally came off the couch after 19 years.
Sunrise was rocked in June when longtime host David ‘Kochie’ Koch retired after 19 years. But Koch’s replacement Matt ‘Shirvo’ Shirvington (right) seems to have won over viewers
But Koch’s replacement Matt ‘Shirvo’ Shirvington seems to have won over the viewers.
Sunrise continued its reign as Australia’s number one breakfast show, drawing an impressive 235,000 subway viewers for Shirvington’s first day together with Barr.
The rating beat Nine’s Today show with a 32% market share, while Today brought in 188,000 metro viewers.
Figures from May showed that Sunrise managed to beat Today every week of the rating year in the five-city metro market – although Today is more dominant on the East Coast.
Sunrise has an eighteen percent lead with an average metro audience of 213,000 viewers compared to Today’s 181,000, according to OzTAM figures.
In the photo: Karl Stefanovic and his wife Jasmine Stefanovic