Karl Stefanovic’s awkward response after Lisa Wilkinson barb

Karl Stefanovic has been left cringing live on Today after being confronted with very awkward references to his former co-host’s bombshell book.

Karl Stefanovic has been left cringing during a live segment on Today after a pointed remark hinting at tensions with his longtime former co-host, Lisa Wilkinson.

Wilkinson, who was axed from Nine’s breakfast program in 2017, released her autobiography It Wasn’t Meant To Be Like This this week – which pulled no punches in detailing the circumstances surrounding her shock exit.

Among the many bombshell claims in her book, Wilkinson, 61, alleged that Stefanovic, 47, with whom she’d co-hosted Today for a decade, had approached her to propose they negotiate over pay together – before ditching her to make his own multimillion-dollar deal.

Wilkinson also filmed a candid tell-all interview on The Projectrecently, saying she felt “betrayed” by her former employer and had been “hurt” by Stefanovic.

During the regular Friday political segment on Today this morning, Peter Dutton (appearing alongside Labor’s Richard Marles) was asked about former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ongoing attacks on the government – and wasted no time in making a not-so-subtle comparison to Stefanovic’s own ex-colleague woes.

“If I’m being truthful, I think it’s sad – you see examples in politics, even in media, where some people lose their jobs, they go away and they’re bitter, they’re disaffected – some of them, like Malcolm, even write books … and they're more fiction than fact,” the Defence Minister said, prompting a snort of laughter from Stefanovic.

“That’s a sad case for people, I think people just need to move on.”

It was fairly clear to whom Dutton was referring.

Dutton added: “You don’t want people making up facts, and being embittered, and forever sort of nasty and spiteful … It’s not a good reflection on them and it diminishes from their own career, whether it’s in politics … or in media.”

A stunned Stefanovic took nearly five whole seconds to respond, before quickly wrapping up the segment with an awkward sign-off.

“Good to talk to you guys, have a great week … Eeeeeek!” he said, throwing his hands into the air, while both Dutton and Marles laughed.

An awkward Stefanovic quickly wrapped up the segment while his guests laughed.

Stefanovic is yet to directly respond to the stunning claims made by Wilkinson in her autobiography.

When detailing how their joint pay negotiation plan had fallen through, Wilkinson claimed that Stefanovic had been the one to convince her it was the way to go.

“Karl said that with Georgie (Gardner) gone, and Ben (Fordham) having left to concentrate more on his radio career outside of Nine, we were the heart and soul of the show,” Wilkinson writes

“Without us, he said, the network would be screwed. They needed us like never before. He wanted us to present to Nine as one entity, an unbreakable duo, with a dual contract on equal pay.”

She claims Stefanovic proposed a “Friends-style” negotiation tactic. The six core cast members from hit sitcom 90s Friends famously banded together as the show took off, each negotiating the same salary and vowing that if one of them quit, they all would.

Stefanovic and Wilkinson co-hosted Today together for a decade. Picture: The Australian

But, Wilkinson writes, Stefanovic’s initial suggestion in August 2015 to emulate the Friends cast was soon cast aside, despite her efforts to move forward. Instead, she – along with the rest of the public – read the news in December that year that Stefanovic had signed a new $2 million deal to stay with Nine, after rumours that he was considering jumping ship to Seven.

“He (Karl) had played both networks off against each other brilliantly and in full public view,” she writes. “There was no doubt about it: Karl certainly knew the art of the deal.”

Wilkinson writes that the new deal meant her co-host would be earning more than double what she was. She says their pay gap was “so off the charts that no-one would have believed it – and much bigger than that figure that had been conveniently leaked”.

The Nine Network’s chief executive officer, Hugh Marks, hit out at Wilkinson in The Daily Telegraph just days after her October 2017 dismissal, claiming that Wilkinson was offered a $1.8 million salary package, but wanted $2.3 million – pushing her well above Stefanovic’s annual salary of $2 million.

Wilkinson addressed Marks’ claim directly in an interview with ABC’s Radio National earlier this week.

“I didn’t ask for salary parity, ever. I asked for a fairer share of the spoils that were coming to a show that Karl and I had taken to number one,” she told host Fran Kelly.

“I found out the salary Karl was on from two separate sources … and the gender pay gap was off the charts. The $2.3 million is a complete lie and has been constantly repeated – it is a complete lie, and I have all the emails to prove it.”

Originally published as Karl Stefanovic’s awkward response after Lisa Wilkinson barb