Seven reveals what really happened behind the scenes when Samatha Armytage appeared on Sunrise alongside Natalie Barr amid rumours of an ongoing ‘feud’

Samantha Armytage recently made a surprise return to Sunrise to discuss the new season of Farmer Wants A Wife after leaving the breakfast show three years ago.

And following her appearance on the show, rumors swirled that her replacement Natalie Barr was ‘uncomfortable’ with Armytage, 47, who returned to the show amid the pair’s alleged ongoing feud.

“When Nat found out she was coming the week before, she just gave it on the chin and as Nat does with everything, she decided to be professional,” a TV insider told Woman’s Day.

“That said, you could tell from her body language that she was feeling a little tense,” the source added.

‘Luckily, Nat and [co-host Matt Shirvington] Shrivo is so close and Shrivo probably noticed that Nat wasn’t 100 percent comfortable with being on the same set as Sam and being there to support her.”

Seven has since denied the allegations, saying the pair got along great and even had a ‘long catch up’ after Armytage’s interview about the reality show.

‘A spokesperson for Seven refutes all claims of tension between the pair. Natalie and Sam had a lengthy catch-up as soon as Nat came off the air. They also offered each other support and kind words following the death of their colleague Nathan Templeton.”

However, viewers claimed they discovered tensions between the former colleagues during the rare appearance.

“She looks SO happy to be there…” one user wrote sarcastically on Australian TV forum MediaSpy at the time.

It was Armytage’s first appearance on Sunrise as part of the publicity tour for FWAW, after famously snubging the morning show in 2022.

Instead, she was interviewed on The Kyle and Jackie O Show while the farmers sat down with Barr and Shirvington.

During the interview, Armytage, a real-life farmer who married horse breeder Richard Lavender in late 2020, raved about her life outside the Sunrise studio and her role as host of the matchmaking series.

‘It’s perfect. This show has been great for me. I’m really enjoying it and meeting these guys. It’s fantastic,” she said.

Armytage became Sunrise co-host alongside David ‘Kochie’ Koch in 2013, before leaving in 2021.

She was replaced by Barr, who will remain on the morning program at Shirvington after taking over Koch’s duties in 2023.

Armytage is said to have ‘upset’ Barr with a snarky tweet after he left the show in March 2021.

‘Look, I’m gone. Nat always wanted the job… and she finally got it. She should just move on and enjoy it – and forget about me (even though I’m unforgettable),” she tweeted at the time.

Barr was reportedly “upset” by her predecessor’s hurtful tweet months after her 2021 departure, which suggested she was desperate for the top job.

She didn’t expect the former presenter to be so “snarky” after they worked together for years on Seven’s breakfast show, a source told New Idea at the time.

“No one was more shocked and saddened by Sam’s comments than Nat,” an insider claimed. ‘She is upset and has no idea why the snarkiness continues even though Sam is gone [from Sunrise] for months.’

Meanwhile, Barr previously revealed that she did not have a close relationship with Armytage.

When asked about the rumors that they were not close, Barr told The Australian Women’s Weekly that the pair “got along well in the office” but rarely spoke after the cameras stopped rolling because they didn’t have much in common.

“The truth is, we haven’t really seen each other outside of the office,” Barr said.

“We had completely different lives, I think,” the mother of two added. ‘We were in different places. She was with her friends and I spent time with my family.

“So yeah, we were in different places.”

Armytage gave a very telling response following Barr’s statement during an appearance on The Kyle and Jackie O Show shortly afterwards.

Instead of addressing their icy relationship directly, she paraphrased Oscar Wilde’s famous quote: “There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Radio host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson brought up the subject, saying:[Natalie] did an interview where she said you weren’t that close because you didn’t have much in common and you didn’t really want to talk to each other when the cameras were off.”

After a brief silence, Armytage dodged the question by saying, “Yeah, well, look, I mean, it’s better to be talked about than not, right in life?”

She then took a subtle swipe at Barr for bringing her up in an interview after she decided to step back from the TV industry.

She said, “I thought everyone would forget about me when I was on my little sabbatical, but it seems like that’s not the case, you know?”

“Look, there’s honestly nothing interesting going on there. I’m just doing my thing, in the country,” she added.