Read more and find out who else is in the breakfast wars mix in this week’s Woman’s Day on sale Monday April 22, 2013.
b>Wake up to Sunrise, Today… or something new? Get set for a morning TV shake-up as Ten has another try.
No matter how bad your morning is, the faces of breakfast TV – Mel, Kochie, Karl and Lisa – are there to greet you with a smile. But a look behind the scenes may make you choke on your crumpet. As Ten prepares to have another crack at a breakfast show, producers are exploiting old rivalries and tensions over pay cheques – and egos – with TV’s favourite pairings set to go head-to-head.
Having licked its wounds from ratings dog Breakfast, dumped last November, Ten is now courting former Australian Idol host James Mathison to lead its dawn assault. The 35-year-old Sydney-based presenter, who took over from Jono Coleman as movie reviewer on Weekend Sunrise last year, would be the first defector from Seven and, sources claim, there will be others. “Whispers James and others are being targeted has taken the already volatile cast of Sunrise to breaking point,” says an insider. “And there’s a new wave of paranoia sweeping through the Today show studio too.”
The man making everybody nervous is Ten’s new Director of Morning Television, Adam Boland, a 14-year veteran at Seven who took Sunrise to the top with Mel and Kochie, then launched ratings winner The Morning Show. “Adam wants to smash every idea of breakfast TV and invent a whole new way of doing breakfast and mornings,” an insider tells Woman’s Day. “He’s looking to his old friends and colleagues from Sunrise to fill some spots, but he has also been looking at some of the Today show stars and other Nine celebrities to see if they could be a good fit.”
There’s no word yet on who will take the coveted female hosting role, but sources say Adam is casting a wide net, and even big-hitters like Today’s Lisa Wilkinson are in his sights. However, plenty of names have been thrown into the breakfast bowl: popular Today newsreader Georgie Gardner; The Morning Show’s Kylie Gillies, known to be on a substantially smaller salary than co-host Larry Emdur; and Weekend Sunrise co-host Samantha Armytage.
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