Federal election 2019: Pauline Hanson delivers ferocious Today show ratings burn

When Today host Deb Knight brought up Pauline Hanson’s dire polling, the One Nation leader shot back with a stunning burn.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson copped a breakfast television grilling over the plunge in support for her party, but she had a ferocious comeback.

Today co-host Deborah Knight interviewed the Queensland Senator and brought up successive opinion polls that show her party’s primary vote has collapsed, almost halving over the course of the campaign.

“The latest Newspoll, it shows support for One Nation collapsing to four per cent, on par with Clive Palmer’s party,” Knight said.

“In light of all the things you’ve faced, all the scandals, all the things that have been going on, can you really blame people for having their doubts about One Nation and considering Clive (Palmer) over you?”

It did not go down well.

Pauline Hanson has delivered a ferocious attack on Today host Deborah Knight.

Today’s ratings have been in the toilet all year, with viewers not warming to co-hosts Deb Knight and Georgie Gardner.

Senator Hanson fired back by pointing out Today’s woeful ratings, which have plummeted to catastrophic levels since Karl Stefanovic was dumped at the end of last year.

Knight was brought in to replace him and co-host the show alongside Georgie Gardner, and viewers haven’t meshed with the new format.

“I’ve actually gone up since the last election, unlike your show, Deb, since you’ve actually taken over,” Senator Hanson said. “You’ve actually gone down in your viewership.”

“Ooh, you’re having a go,” Knight interjected.

Senator Hanson wasn’t done and took a sharp dig at Knight’s performance on the desk.

“So, should you hand over your job or should we bring Karl back? Should we bring Karl back? You have a go at me about this all the time.”

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‘Should we bring Karl back?’ Pauline Hanson delivered a ferocious burn after being grilled on Today.

Yesterday, Today attracted just 217,000 metropolitan and regional viewers, and just 185,000 capital city eyeballs, compared to Channel 7 rival Sunrise, which had a national audience of 465,000 and a metro reach of 286,000.

Senator Hanson’s pointed attack obviously shocked Knight — and pretty quickly the show’s bosses.

Today’s Twitter account shared a video clip of the angry criticism, before promptly deleting it just minutes later.

And a video of the interview shared to the show’s Facebook page curiously misses the whole attack on Today’s ratings and Knight’s job.

What a coincidence.

One Nation’s primary vote has more than halved, according to successive opinion polls. Picture: AAP

After news.com.au pointed out the curious deletion, the full interview was uploaded to the Today website - some three hours later.

Senator Hanson has since addressed the issue on Facebook.

“I got a little fired up in this interview but when the media attacks you have to hit back,” she said.

“Funny how they deleted my comments about their terrible ratings from the videos they put out on twitter and Facebook. Just goes to show you can’t trust the media to let you know what really happened!”

Senator Hanson also attacked Clive Palmer during the interview, who remains in Fiji just days out from the election.

“I’m sure that people won’t be happy about it,” she said.

“Clive’s not going around the country supporting his candidates. Clive’s not interested in the country. Clive Palmer’s only interested in himself.”

A social media image showing Clive Palmer in Fiji as the final week of the 2019 Federal Election campaign began.

The mining magnate and United Australia Party leader was photographed in Fiji at the weekend and a spokesman insisted it would be a brief visit. He was there to visit a sick friend, the spokesman said.

But Mr Palmer hasn’t come home, amid revelations former workers at his failed Queensland Nickel refinery are being gagged.

The Guardian reports workers hoping to receive millions of dollars in owed pay from Mr Palmer must first sign a nondisclosure, promising not to make disparaging comments about him.