‘She’s long been favoured as a future host’: 60 Minutes’ Allison Langdon ‘is set to replace’ Deborah Knight or Georgie Gardner on Today… as Nine struggles to win back viewers
Things don’t seem to be getting any better for Channel Nine’s Today show, with ratings continuing to drop.
According to TV Tonight, the breakfast program delivered some of its lowest ratings all year, with just 169,000 metro viewers tuning in on September 23.
And now The Sunday Telegraph has claimed that 60 Minutes’ Allison Langdon is the favourite to replace either Deborah Knight or Georgie Gardner.
‘She’s long been favoured as a future host’: 60 Minutes’ Allison Langdon (pictured), 40, ‘is set to replace’ Deborah Knight or Georgie Gardner… as Today show struggles to win back viewers
Insiders close to Sydney Confidential have alleged that Allison, 40, ‘could once again be in executives’ sights’ to replace Deborah, 46, Georgie, 49, or even both hosts.
The paper went on to claim that Ali was only out of the running for Today show host in January this year, due to her being in her ninth month of pregnancy.
Nine are expected to announce the 2020 line-up of the Today show – should there be any changes – at the end of the year.
Claims: Insiders close to Sydney Confidential have alleged that Allison ‘could once again be in executives’ sights’ to replace Deborah (left), 46, Georgie (right), 49, or even both hosts
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to the Nine Network for comment.
Today has struggled to find its footing since being ‘relaunched’ in January following a high-profile staff shake-up.
Over the past two years, Today has fallen well behind Channel Seven’s Sunrise in the breakfast TV ratings battle.
Shake-up: Today has struggled to find its footing since being ‘relaunched’ in January following a high-profile staff shake-up. Pictured: axed Today show host Karl Stefanovic, 45
According to a recent report, Sunrise boasts a national audience of around 462,000 viewers compared to Today’s 287,000.
Today’s current on-air lineup consists of co-hosts Georgie and Deborah, newsreader Tom Steinfort, entertainment reporter Brooke Boney and weather presenter Steve Jacobs.
After replacing Karl Stefanovic as co-host of the Today show alongside Georgie in January, Deborah has faced heavy criticism.
On top: Rival Sunrise boasts a national audience of around 462,000 viewers compared to Today’s 287,000. Pictured: Sunrise hosts Samantha Armytage and David Koch
Speaking to Stellar magazine in April, Deborah said she was forced to contend with ‘hateful’ rhetoric after the two women debuted as presenters.
Referring to the commentary, Deborah slammed any suggestion of reported in-fighting, but did admit the two women are very ‘different in style’.
‘Georgie and I have enormous respect for each other. We’re very different people, but I think that’s a good thing because we bring different approaches,’ she said.
Criticism: After replacing Karl as co-host of the Today show alongside Georgie in January, Deborah (pictured) has faced heavy criticism