Georgie Gardner was always worried about sharing opinions, personality on Today Show
EMBARRASSED Today Show host Karl Stefanovic might have called his co-host Georgie Gardner“a fence-sitter”, but the 44-year-old likes to drive the show in neutral for a very good reason.
Confidential
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EMBARRASSED Today Show host Karl Stefanovic might have called his co-host Georgie Gardner“a wishy-washy fence-sitter who likes to play it safe”, but the 44-year-old likes to drive the show in neutral for a very good reason.
This morning, Gardner has been sent out to report from the NSW south coast suburb of Tathra bushfires after calling Stefanovic “pathetic” on air yesterday — it comes as Channel 9 remains in damage control.
Stefanovic’s loose lips threatened to cause further tension between the pair when the details of a conversation he had with brother Pete about Gardner and other colleagues were published by New Idea yesterday.
“He said she didn’t have enough opinions and he wanted her to step up,” explained the Uber driver who sold details of the conversation to the magazine.
“He actually sounded angry and said he was going to start pushing hard and that she needed to do that if she wanted to stay on the show.”
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But even before Gardner stepped foot on the Today Show set, she told Confidential she was nervous about the high-profile gig, particularly when it came to sharing more of her opinions and personality with viewers.
“There’s a part of me that feels wary because we live in a time now where there is just so much scrutiny,” she said.
“We live in this very weird era of clickbait and I just hope I don’t lose my spontaneity.
“I figure we’re all at risk of saying something that we might ... regret or feel ‘oh gosh, I wish I didn’t say that’, but I hope that doesn’t override the genuine side of me and my authenticity.”
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Gardner did exactly that on the show yesterday, choosing her words carefully in a single thinly veiled reference to the public fracas. As viewers watched to see the fallout, Gardner was stoic but couldn’t resist a dig at her co-host. When Stefanovic aired his fears during a segment about sausage dogs, Gardner told him: “Well, it’s probably about now I should call you pathetic.”
Gardner has been sent to cover the fires today to avoid more discussion on air.