Stefanovic brothers Karl and Pete reveal private text exchanges
They are officially rivals in a work sense but notoriously private brothers Karl and Peter Stefanovic have revealed the texts they send each other while on air.
Confidential
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Brothers Karl and Peter Stefanovic are officially rivals.
Behind the scenes though, they are each other’s biggest fans and text each other from their respective hosting seats on Today and Sky News First Edition.
“We chat during the shows sometimes,” Peter Stefanovic revealed. “We text. Sometimes it is just, ‘what are you having for breakfast?’. If we’ve got a guest on that they don’t have, that is nice. Or if he has got a guest on that is someone we might be interested in like politicians, I will ask him how it went. We chat after the show and talk a lot as you would expect.
The Stefanovic brothers are on air at the same time with Karl back on Nine’s Today show after a year on the sidelines.
They don’t see themselves as competitors though.
“We are competing for different audiences,” Peter explained. “That is what is great about him being back into that world because it is the same world that I am in; news and politics which is what he does so well, and sport, and we just share our views.”
New dad Stefanovic is back on air on Sky News this week after a fortnight paternity leave following the birth of son, Oscar.
When not busy with his son, Stefanovic used his time off to catch up on what other networks are doing in the breakfast market.
“I enjoy watching Karl, he looks energised and happy to be back and I know that he is,” he said. “They (Today) do a good show, Sunrise does a great show as well, it is a tough contest that one because they are both doing well.”
And with Stefanovic back on air this week, his journalist wife Sylvia Jeffreys has been keenly watching her partner on screen. On Monday she shared a candid shot of their son with his father on screen behind him with the caption: “Hands up if your Daddy is looking fly this morning”.
Having worked in breakfast television for years, Stefanovic and Jeffreys say they are adapting well to the lack of sleep that comes with a newborn.
“It changes everything. It puts things into perspective,” Stefanovic said of fatherhood. “Now it is all about him where it used to be about a whole lot of other stuff. It is fantastic. He is healthy and happy and he’s eating well so we’ve got nothing to complain about.”
There is some guilt for Stefanovic though as he feels slightly helpless.
“There’s only so much a guy can do … I try and help out as much as I can but you feel guilty,” he said. “I feel guilty for getting a few more hours sleep than she (Jeffreys) does but we are enjoying the experience as we always wanted to have a kid and so we know that this whole lack of sleep thing is only a temporary thing.”
Workwise, Stefanovic’s latest project, MH370: The Untold Story will premiere on Sky News tonight.
The two-part special investigation uncovers new information on the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared with 239 people on board six years ago.
“It is a story that has been picked over so many times before and so that was the challenge,” Stefanovic explained. “What we’ve done, which hasn’t been done before is we’ve assembled all of the major players so we’ve got former PM Tony Abbott and we’ve got Warren Truss, who was the transport minister and the deputy PM at the time, and we’ve got Sir Angus Houston, who led the search. I guess the biggest thing for us is that the Prime Minister at the time was able to tell us about conversations he was having and that is new information.”
* MH370: The Untold Story will premiere on Sky News at 8pm on Wednesday February 19.