‘We want to win’: Sunrise host Natalie Barr sheds light on Today show rivalry

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has set the record straight on her rivalry with the Today show, admitting they can’t help but be competitive.

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has shed some light on the breakfast TV ratings war with rival program, Today.

The two morning shows have gone head-to-head for years, with the Nine program trying to dethrone the Seven juggernaut as the number-one brekkie program in the country.

While Barr is the first to say breakfast television is a competitive environment, she and co-host Matt Shirvington prefer to stay in their own lane and not worry about what their TV rivals, Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo, are doing.

“I think as far as our competitors [go] yes, we want to win. It’s a commercial television station,” she told TV Tonight in a new interview.

“But we’re not sitting there every day thinking, ‘What are they doing?’ We’re sitting there everyday thinking, ‘How can we put the best show to air?’”

Natalie Barr hosts Seven breakfast program Sunrise.

Barr with Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington.

“And we’re sitting there every day, researching, keeping up with the news all day, making sure we’re across everything and doing the best job we can.”

Shirvington says it comes down to trusting their own team rather than worrying what about what their competitors are reporting.

“It’s always looking ahead and the team we have, whether it be a segment producer, whether it be Sean [Power, executive producer], whoever it is, that editorial is critical because that ultimately tells the story. That ultimately drives the news cycle. I think we have the best team at that,” he said.

Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo host Nine’s Today show.

The TV Tonight interview comes months after Barr and Stefanovic both appeared on Nova’s Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel drive show where they playfully mocked their rivalry.

In May, Stefanovic was filling in for host Joel Creasey while he was in the UK to cover the Eurovision Song Contest, and Barr was a guest on the show.

During a word game of Quick Draw, the duo engaged in friendly banter, but it was still awkward, nonetheless.

Karl Stefanovic and Natalie Barr faced-off on Nova in May.

When asked what it was like being in the same room as her “opposition”, Barr pretended she didn’t even know who Stefanovic was.

“What’s your name again?” she asked him, to which he replied: “It’s not easy looking at each other and being such fierce competitors. Look at the daggers.”

Barr said they “actually don’t mind each other”, which he playfully rebutted.

“That’s not true,” he said.

“You hate me?” she asked, to which he joked, “Yeah, I do.”

“OK, I hate you more,” Barr replied.

“Well, you’re successful, and I’m not,” he concluded. “So there.”