For nearly nine years, Richard Reid was Today’s go-to for all things gossip in Tinseltown, and now a decade on from his departure, he has revealed he hated working on the breakfast show hosted by Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkinson.
“The last year of that show, I hated it,” Richard admitted on the podcast, A Bit Rogue.
“I hated working with – not with Richard Wilkins – I hated working with Karl and everyone was unhappy. Everyone was miserable. Everyone hated each other.”
NOT A FAN OF KARL’S PODCAST
Speaking with the podcast’s host, Skye Sydenham, Richard said there were a lot of good times working on Today with his close friend Richard Wilkins – but said changes in the producer’s room and a tighter budget led to him being axed from the show.
“I was gonna say fond memories of Today, but that was gonna be just a lie coming out of my mouth, you know?” Richard, 57, said.
“I was up and down, it was a lot of good times and, god, I’m so grateful to Nine especially, they put me on a number of shows. But, you know, no one likes being kicked to the kerb.”
While Richard harbours no vendetta against Karl, he did admit that he would not be tuning into Karl’s recently launched podcast series, The Karl Stefanovic Show, because Richard “can’t stand Karl’s voice”.
HEADING FOR RADIO?
As Karl, 51, continues to focus on growing his podcast, which currently has nearly 63,000 subscribers on YouTube, there’s growing speculation on what it means for his future at Nine.
With his multimillion-dollar contract with Nine set to expire at the end of the year, there have been rumours circulating that Karl could be trading breakfast television for his own radio show.
Last week, reports surfaced that radio broadcaster ARN Media approached Karl’s team for informal discussions, but no official deal has been inked.
Karl reportedly told ARN’s CEO Michael Stephenson that “he doesn’t know what he is doing next year”.
And with ARN’s flagship radio program The Kyle & Jackie O show in turmoil following Jackie Henderson’s sudden departure – media insiders are speculating Karl could fill that void.
Since the podcast launched last month, Karl has garnered controversy for his choice of guests including Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce and Kyle Sandilands.
Karl also recently admitted he regretted urging Australians to get a Covid-19 vaccination on Today on an episode featuring former Liberal senator and vaccine critic Gerard Rennick.
“I am definitely sorry for the role I played in not questioning the science, in not questioning more the government mandates, and I feel like I isolated people because of that, and I don’t think the media should be involved in that kind of messaging,” Karl said.
“What I do believe is that we should have been there to offer some sort of education, but we shouldn’t have taken that step further and been part of a campaign.”
