The Ultimate TV Betrayal: Samantha Armytage Just Jumped Ship To Channel 9 And Seven Is In Complete Meltdown
It’s been a revolving door of hosts on the breakfast show after the sudden exit of Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo’s maternity leave.
Samantha Armytage is back in the hosting chair on Today, taking over the spot from Sylvia Jeffreys.
Yahoo Lifestyle understands Nine is still cycling through familiar and new candidates to fill Karl Stefanovic’s and Sarah Abo’s roles on the breakfast program.
Sylvia and Tom Steinfort have been in the gig for the last two weeks, and even though the duo has a great standing with viewers, it’s clear they haven’t yet fully convinced Nine executives.
Tom is continuing to host the program alongside Sam, who was actually supposed to return to the show on Monday.
However, she fractured her ankle after missing a step while taking out the rubbish.
Karl left the network after more than two decades following his interview with a far-right British activist on his podcast, and Sarah is on maternity leave after welcoming her first child.
Samantha, who also hosts The Golden Bachelor for the network, last hosted the show for two weeks last month alongside Michael Willesee Jr.
“It was fun, it’s always fun to be back. It’s nice to fill in,” she told Yahoo Lifestyle.
“I love brekkie TV, I know how to do it. It’s nice to be asked.”
As for whether she would do it permanently, she revealed last week that she hadn’t yet been asked to do a longer stint.
A poll of more than 4,000 Yahoo Lifestyle readers looked at who Australians would like to slip into Karl’s spot permanently.
The list of names included Sam, Tom, The Floor host Rodger Corser, Nine’s political reporter Charles Croucher.
But only 11 per cent of people thought Sam should be given the role.
It’s not the first time Samantha has filled in on Today recently, as she was parachuted into the role over last year’s festive season.
As Nine continues its revolving door of talent on the show, it just can’t seem to edge out Sunrise for the top spot on breakfast TV.
The Channel 7 show averaged 460,000 viewers last Monday to Friday, according to The Daily Telegraph.
This is compared to Today, which pulled in 292,000 people.
It’s not just last week that the gap between the two shows has been apparent.
Sunrise has pulled in a weekly average of 439,000 this year, and Today has averaged 303,000, a gap of 45 per cent.