Georgie has been covering the devastating bushfires on the NSW south coast, with Deborah Knight taking the reins as in-studio co-host.
This follows an awkward incident yesterday, when Georgie called Karl ‘pathetic’ in reference to his fear of sausage dogs. This was widely seen as a swipe at the star, following New Idea’s publication of details of Karl’s conversation with brother Peter, in which he criticized Georgie.
Amid newspaper suggestions that Georgie’s field posting was ‘damage control’ to prevent viewers from seizing on more perceived tension between the pair, Nine insisted that 'Georgie is doing her job and sharing the stories of these devastated communities.'
Karl’s comments about Georgie and Richard Wilkins, and Peter’s own unedifying rant, are the talk to the country today. Speaking to New Idea in his only interview, the driver who overheard a fiery 45-minute conversation between Karl Stefanovic and his brother Peter shared his story – exposing what Karl really thinks of his co-host Georgie Gardner.
Despite recent widespread reports claiming the driver recorded the brothers' bombshell conversation, he has vehemently denied this, saying: 'I don't have a dash cam... I don't even know how to record something on my phone.'
In a shocking rant that’s enough to make morning viewers choke on their breakfast cereal, Karl slammed his colleagues, other network shows and even his bosses in the attack. As well as claiming that Georgie needs to ‘step up’, an ‘angry’ Karl also accused Dickie of keeping him from big entertainment stories and slammed Nine bosses for being ‘out of touch’.
'It was Pete and his wife Sylvie who jumped into my cab late one night,' says the driver in an exclusive interview with New Idea. 'He called Karl and told him he was in a cab and that he was on speaker phone so they all were aware I was there and could hear everything.'
Their first point of discussion was Karl’s ‘problems’ with his new co-host Georgie, who he accuses of ‘sitting on the fence’.
‘He said she didn’t have enough opinions and he wanted her to step up,’ explains the driver. ‘He actually sounded angry and said he was going to start pushing hard and that she needed to do that if she wanted to stay on the show.'
For more exclusive details, see this week's New Idea - out now.