Awkward reunion between Deb Knight and Karl Stefanovic as they co-host Nine’s Today show after THAT Freddy Krueger comment
Axed Today show host Deborah Knight was back on Nine’s morning breakfast show on Monday – nine months after leaving the program.
Sitting next to reinstated anchor Karl Stefanovic, Deb appeared to share pleasantries with Karl despite past reports of a rumoured feud between them.
Shuffling papers as viewers tuned in just after 5:30am, Deb joked that she was ‘getting a refresher’ of her former role by her replacement.
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Awkward reunion between Deb Knight and Karl Stefanovic as they co-host Nine’s Today show after THAT Freddy Krueger comment
Karl was sacked from the Today show while on his honeymoon in December, 2018. Deborah was announced as his replacement alongside Georgie Gardner.
In November 2019, the Nine Network announced that both female hosts would be axed in favour of reinstating Karl with new host Allison Langdon from January 2020.
‘Nice to see you again,’ Karl said to Deb, as he told loyal viewers: ‘Ally is on a well-deserved week holiday. Deb is in for the week.’
Their friendly on-air exchange as co-hosts comes after Karl was accused of comparing Deborah to a horror film character in January 2019.
KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands claimed at the time that Karl sent a photo of Freddy Krueger via text message after the shock jock invited him to join Deborah Knight and Georgie Gardner for an in-studio interview.
‘Nice to see you again’: Their friendly on-air exchange as co-hosts comes after Karl was accused of comparing Deborah to a horror film character in January 2019
Replaced! Karl was sacked from the Today show while on his honeymoon in December 2018. Deborah (left) was subsequently announced as his replacement with Georgie Gardner (right). Both female hosts were axed in November 2019
Feud? KIIS FM host Kyle Sandilands claimed in January 2019 that Karl sent a photo of Freddy Krueger via text message after the shock jock invited him to join Deborah Knight and Georgie Gardner for an in-studio interview
Karl told Daily Mail Australia at the time that his friend had totally misrepresented their SMS exchange and insisted he had not referred to Deborah and then co-host Georgie with the Freddy Krueger image.
‘Kyle and I were talking about a former Russian president, not the Today show cast,’ the Channel Nine star said. ‘He has a fertile, funny and disturbing imagination. I don’t know how Jackie puts up with him.
‘For the record, I wake up with Today, not KIIS. And Kyle can KIIS my a**.’
While his statement was light-hearted, Daily Mail Australia understood that behind the scenes Karl was likely furious with Kyle for sharing their private texts on air.
Setting the record straight: Both Karl and Kyle claimed their SMS exchange has been misrepresented and insisted Karl had directed the Freddy Krueger image at Karl to show how ‘evil’ he was, and not in reference to Deborah and Georgie. Pictured with Jackie Henderson
New role: Deborah helps fill in on A Current Affair (pictured) and has her own afternoon radio show on 2GB
Meanwhile, Kyle also acknowledged that his exchange with Karl had simply been misunderstood.
He told Daily Mail Australia at the time that Karl had sent him a picture of Freddy Krueger, however he said that the image referred to him, not Georgie and Deborah.
‘Karl sent back the picture of Freddy Krueger which was his way of laughing off the suggestion and insinuating I was evil for having the idea [to invite him on the show with his Today host replacements]’
‘That picture of Freddy Krueger was directed at me, not the girls. It was all meant in good fun.’
Georgie has since returned to presenting Nine News Sydney, while Deborah fills in on A Current Affair and has her own afternoon radio show on 2GB.
‘Ally is on a well-deserved week holiday’: Karl (left) said Deb is only temporarily replacing his co-host Allison Langdon (right) for the week while she is away on annual leave