This Time Next Year: Karl Stefanovic ‘in shock’ during TV comeback

Karl Stefanovic could not believe his eyes as he returned to TV nine months after being sacked from the Today show.

Karl Stefanovic was left in “shock and awe” during his TV comeback on Monday night.

The star, who was sacked from Today last December, returned to screens with his feel-good show This Time Next Year last night.

When the show debuted in 2017 it pulled in 1.28 million (five city metro) viewers for the first episode. Last night’s Season 2 opening attracted only 686,000 sets of eyeballs, but it was only just behind Have You Been Paying Attention? which took out the timeslot win with 735,000 viewers.

Those who tuned into This Time Next Year saw Stefanovic get blown away by the physical transformation of two of his guests.

Mum-and-daughter duo Brenda, 56, and Amelia, 16, pledged to lose 100kg together.

Weighing in at 166kg, Brenda’s goal was to shed 70kg over 12 months with Amelia aiming to lose 35kg.

Amelia (left) and Brenda (right) pledged to lose 100kg together.

“I’m teaching my daughter the wrong thing to do, to eat the wrong foods and not to be healthy,” Brenda told Stefanovic. “I don’t want her to be me.”

Surgery wasn’t an option for Brenda due to the scarring she had from a stomach stapling operation several years ago, so her only option to lose weight was naturally through diet and exercise.

The results of Brenda and Amelia’s 12-month efforts were then revealed, and Stefanovic could not believe his eyes.

“I am in absolute shock and awe! Damn girl, you fine!” he said as the noticeably slimmer mum and daughter walked onto the set.

Amelia and Brenda lost over 70kg between them.

Although the pair didn’t quite reach their goal of 100kg, Brenda managed to lose 53kg and Amelia lost 23 — a total of 76kg.

“Three-quarters of the way there, I call that a massive win!” Stefanovic said. “That is an astounding amount of weight.”

The pair explained to Stefanovic that they went to the gym six days a week and ate healthily to achieve their weight loss.

Brenda also made the host blush as she spoke about the benefits of her weight loss, saying, “I can see my cha-cha,” while pointing to her groin.

Stefanovic jokingly turned to the audience and said, “What she actually said then was, ‘I can do the cha-cha’,” but Brenda was having none of it.

“No I didn’t,” she said. “I said I can actually see my cha-cha. It’s been a while!”

Stefanovic didn’t know where to look as Brenda spoke about her cha-cha.

The mother and daughter looked drastically different.

Monday night’s episode of This Time Next Year featured a diverse range of stories, including a teenager who managed to overcome a rare form of Tourette syndrome and a man whose goal was to become a professional wrestler.

The eight-part series continues next Monday night at 8.40pm on Nine.