More viewers tuned into 60 Minutes to hear from Mr Albanese than they did with Prime Minister Scott Morrison

The 60 Minutes interview with Anthony Albanese didn’t attract the criticism the Prime Minister’s ukulele playing did and proved more popular with viewers.

The sit-down 60 Minutes interview with opposition leader Anthony Albanese certainly didn’t gain the same criticism that Karl Stefanovic’s chat with Scott Morrison did that included the Prime Minister’s ukulele rendition of April Sun in Cuba but more viewers tuned in to hear what the Labor leader had to say.

Nine aired the 20-minute interview with Mr Albanese on Sunday night, visiting Camperdown in Sydney’s inner-west where he grew up, while discussing his dramatic weight loss and breakdown of his marriage of 30 years to Carmel Tebbutt in 2019.

The interview – which Nine again reeled in Stefanovic to do – aired in the 8.50pm timeslot and drew 634,000 viewers across the five major metropolitan cities, figures from TV ratings company OzTAM showed.

This is compared to Stefanovic’s sit-down interview with the PM last month which attracted 574,000 viewers and prominently included Mr Morrison’s wife Jenny and two daughters, Abbey and Lilly.

It’s been a carefully crafted makeover for Anthony Albanese - with the dramatic weight loss, new specks and new suits, you’d almost need glasses to recognise him. But to understand the real @AlboMP, his mates say you need to understand his roots. #60Minspic.twitter.com/vbyX8tWbnW

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) March 13, 2022

On Sunday 60 Minutes was fourth most-watched program and won its timeslot, beating Seven’s Crime Investigation Australia: Baby in the suitcase (259,000 viewers), Ten’s Australian Survivor and ABC’s Troppo (222,000 viewers).

The interview with Mr Albanese also included little criticism of the leader, unlike the interview with Mr Morrison which discussed everything from his infamous trip to Hawaii during the nation’s 2019/20 bushfire crisis and the leaked texts that claimed there were comments made by former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian who labelled Mr Morrison a “horrible, horrible person” during the bushfire catastrophe.

Mr Albanese, who appeared in the 60 Minutes interview largely on his own, did not include his partner, Jodie Haydon, a strategic partnership manager for an industry super fund, by his side.

The pair met several years ago at an event in Melbourne where Mr Albanese had been speaking and he asked the crowd whether there were any South Sydney rugby league supporters in the audience.

“There’s got to be one South Sydney person out there, and she yelled out,” Mr Albanese told Stefanovic.

“I met her then. Then we met up for a drink … it’s early stages, but it’s a nice

relationship.”

The couple recently appeared in a lengthy interview with the Australian Women’s Weekly and it included a range of images from a photo shoot with the pair and their dog.

“Are you in love, @AlboMP?”

After his divorce from ex-wife Carmel Tebbutt, who he was with for 30 years, Anthony Albanese has found a new love. #60Minspic.twitter.com/J5eL8FV94k

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) March 13, 2022

In the Nine interview Mr Albanese discussed, “almost dying last year in a car accident” was critical to making him reassess his life.

“It made me absolutely determined to make a contribution to the country,” he told Stefanovic.

He went on to discuss growing up in a single parent household and being raised by his mother Maryanne Ellery in public housing.

Later in life he finally met his father, Carlo Albanese, who until he was 14, was told he had died in a car accident.

He then went on a mission to find him and his trip to Italy to do this proved successful.

“I was 46 years of age,” Mr Albanese said.

“I’d lived with this for, by then, for more than 30 years, the knowledge that my father might be alive.

“He put out his arms and we embraced.”

Mr Albanese also said during the 60 Minutes interview he expects the federal election will be held on Saturday, May 14.