Things first started to head south when his winning pairing with Lisa Wilkinson came to an end, after she quit the show, upset that Nine refused to pay her as much as then management darling Karl.
Then the collapse of his marriage to wife Cass, a highly publicised new relationship with much younger new partner Jasmine and a flashy wedding were all perceived to have turned off legions of female viewers.
The Ubergate scandal, where Karl and brother Peter Stefanovic were heard talking about Nine colleagues, further sullied his reputation.
A string of stunts, including dressing up as Hannibal Lecter, have so far failed to bring back the glory days for the former golden child of the Nine Network boy’s club.
‘There is a whiff of desperation in the air,’ says an industry insider. ‘TODAY may yet recover but they have a lot of problems to iron out and it’s not clear that Karl is the one who can do the job. Time will tell.’