Nine News presenter Peter Overton turned down Today show hosting gig

Channel Nine News presenter Peter Overton has revealed the time he almost walked out on the network.

Channel Nine News presenter Peter Overton has revealed he once turned down an offer to co-host the Today show with his wife Jessica Rowe.

In 2007, Rowe left her co-hosting gig alongside Karl Stefanovic over a pay dispute with Channel 9 and Overton contemplated resigning from the network.

“I was ready to quit Channel Nine because I was so upset at the way you were treated,” Overton told LiSTNR’s The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.

“I remember them saying ‘maybe you and Jessica could host the show together?’ and I said ‘you’re kidding me’. So you’re going to ruin two careers, ruin a marriage and ruin a program in one hit. No thank you.”

Peter Overton once turned down a hosting job on the Today show and almost quit Channel 9.

Jessica Rowe and Peter Overton on their wedding say at Bondi.

Rowe, 51, said the Today show husband and wife pairing would never have worked.

“It would be a disaster because we are so different and I know that I do irritate you sometimes with my carry on,” she said.

Rowe, 51, replaced Today show co-host Tracy Grimshaw in 2006 and was instantly subjected to media scrutiny with criticism ranging from her appearance and TV presence to her journalistic credentials.

Jessica Rowe, who left the Today show in 2007 over a pay dispute, on Today with Karl Stefanovic.

Nine News presenters Peter Overton and Deborah Knight.

“I could not comprehend the level of nastiness directed my way,” she told New Idea last year. “All because I smiled, I had short hair, I was too thin, I didn’t have a child (and) people didn’t know I was going through IVF at the time and I snort when I laugh.

“It was so public and cruel, definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever been through, career-wise. I was picked on mercilessly and couldn’t understand what I had done wrong. Now I know I did nothing wrong, I was simply being myself.”

Overton, 55, who joined the Nine Network in the 1990s, said despite his past grievances with his employer, he’s content with the broadcaster.

“...I kept going and it’s worked out alright because it’s my 31st year at Nine and I love every second of it,” he said.