At a glance…
- Samantha Armytage is returning to morning television and replacing Sarah Abo on the Today Show.
- Sarah Abo left on maternity leave earlier than expected, but has since announced the safe arrival of her baby boy, Sonny.
- Samantha is no stranger to morning news after hosting Sunrise for nearly a decade and filling in occasionally for Sarah.
- There’s no official news on who is replacing Karl Stefanovic.
Morning news watchers were worried when mainstays of the Today Show, Sarah Abo and Karl Stefanovic, left the show for various reasons.
Sarah Abo left on maternity leave sooner than expected after a health scare, which was announced on the show.
“She wanted us to share that while her little man isn’t here just yet, last week she received a bit of a curveball with high blood pressure, and she’s been in and out of hospital,” co-host Sylvia Jeffreys said on the show.
But thankfully she and her baby boy, Sonny, are safe and well!
“He came into the world a little early, but that gave us a little longer to marvel at you, our beautiful boy,” Sarah wrote in a post.
However, Karl left in less-than-happy circumstances following a controversial podcast episode. There is still no word on who is replacing Karl on the morning news show. In the interim, Michael Willesee Jr. is filling in.
As the network knew Sarah would be heading on parental leave, it’s not too surprising that we have news of a replacement for her before Karl.
Samantha is not a stranger to morning television. She has filled in on the Today Show in the past, most recently during the summer months, also filling in for Sarah. However, she hosted Sunrise on Channel 7 for 8 years. After which she became the host of the hit reality series, The Golden Bachelor.
Sylvia Jeffreys has been filling in since Sarah went on leave earlier than planned, but Samantha will now take over for the next few weeks.
There was a lot of speculation that Sam would take on the role. She addressed rumours on the Stellar podcast, Something to Talk About and implied it wasn’t in her future.
“I am completely happy to just stay in prime time now with the alarms going off at reasonable hours like 6 am,” she said on the podcast.
“I mean, you know, getting up for all those years, it really affects your social life very badly, and it’s also very hard on the body. So I don’t necessarily miss that, but breakfast TV is really fun.”
Whatever has happened in the interim, she’s back on our screens!
