Sonia Kruger shares her Big Brother worry on the Not Here To Make Friends podcast

A lot was on the line when Sonia Kruger defected from Nine to Seven. She has shared the anxiety she felt in the lead up to Big Brother.

When Sonia Kruger made the jump from Channel Nine to Seven, a lot was on the line – and she says there were times she worried the revamped Big Brother, which she fronts, might not be a hit.

“It’s terrible because you can spiral down (and think), ‘What have I done?’” she told news.com.au’s Not Here To Make Friends podcast, where she also spoke about the “wrong” rumours surrounding her reported seven figure deal plus her private life with partner (and Seven News boss) Craig McPherson.

“When we debuted I was really nervous. (I was thinking) How’s it going to go? Will people like it? And when we got the numbers the next day, it was the number one entertainment program. It had been downloaded more than any other show ever – more the Super Bowl, more than Married At First Sight.”

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Monday’s 90 minute premiere was watched by 1.22 million viewers across the country – beating Channel Nine’s The Voice and Ten’s MasterChef in the same timeslot.

When Kruger, 54, made the leap from Nine – where she co-hosted Today Extra for eight years – she said she wanted a change. And her initial deal had nothing to do with hosting Big Brother.

“I was supposed to go do the Olympics, I was supposed to go and do Holey Moly (a competitive mini golfing series filmed in the US that she’s no longer attached to), and also be a judge on Australia’s Got Talent,” she said of the Seven gig.

Sonia also spoke about the “weird, awkward” moment in Big Brother’s premiere.

She continued: “It was a no-brainer. I could stay and do the same thing or I could actually take this opportunity which doesn’t come along very often. And then all of a sudden (Seven) called me and said we really want you to host Big Brother – and that wasn’t part of my initial plan. And I was sceptical. (I thought) Was it going to work? How were they going to bring it back and make it successful? But if you make a great show, people will watch it. And it’s a great show.

“It’s the comedic aspect of it that I love. The fact the opening (episode) was really kind of clunky in parts – awkward, you know. And producers left it all in there. And Dan and I had that weird, flirty moment which was weird. And that awkward, cringey, mockumentary humour. Producers get the tone of that really right.”

The awkward moment Dan tried to flirt with Sonia.

Kruger’s defection to Seven grabbed headlines and reports speculated about the specifics of “the seven figure” deal she inked. It’s understood Nine had initially presented her a new three-year contract worth more than $1.5 million, but negotiations broke down and she jumped.

Is it weird when the entire country – and other parents at the school gate – know the ins and outs of your salary? Kruger said the reports are not accurate.

“It’s weird because it’s always wrong – the numbers are never right,” the mum-of-one told the podcast.

“It’s never right and they always try to make it sound like the reason you went somewhere was because of the money they were offering but the whole thing with Seven was about the opportunity. Because (the offers from) Seven and Nine were on par – there was no real difference there. But it is strange because I guess what reports don’t factor in … you don’t take home whatever amount of money is on your contract because you have to pay your agent, you have to pay tax and those things, so you end up with a third of what you supposedly earn.”

Podcast co-host James Weir joked: “So you’re living on the poverty line?”

“I am, absolutely. I’m starting a GoFundMe page,” Sonia joked.

Listen to the full chat on the Not Here To Make Friends podcast.

New episodes of Not Here To Make Friends are uploaded every Thursday at 4pm and are available to download on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.