Samantha Armytage claims that going back for another stint on breakfast television, this time on the Today Show, would feel like ‘going backwards’ – after Sylvia Jeffreys was given the plum job of co-host.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Mail following Nine’s announcement that Jeffreys and Tom Steinfort will take over the breakfast program, Sam said she had already conquered breakfast television and has nothing left to prove.
But after spending 15 years in breakfast television, including eight years fronting Seven’s ratings juggernaut Sunrise, Sam said she was in ‘two minds’ about whether she would ever want to return to the punishing breakfast TV schedule permanently.
‘This was never about me going back into breakfast television. This was always a fill-in, which I was happy to do when Sarah was on maternity leave,’ she told Daily Mail on Thursday.
‘I said right from the start that I have done 15 years of breakfast TV at the highest possible level on such a huge show as Sunrise.
Samantha Armytage has revealed why she has no desire to make a permanent return to breakfast television, declaring another stint on the early morning shift would feel like ‘going backwards’
‘So I was very much in two minds about whether I really wanted to go back into those hours and that much attention.
‘Look, I think it’s all worked out for the best. And as I’ve said publicly before, I have done it at the highest levels. I didn’t need to do it again.’
Sam later doubled down on her decision, saying she was determined to keep moving forward as she enters a new chapter of her career.
‘I feel like going back into breakfast TV would have been going backwards, and I don’t want to do that at 50,’ she said.
‘I’m in forward motion and watch… well, watch this space.’
Armytage also threw her support firmly behind Jeffreys, describing her appointment as part of a much-needed ‘changing of the guard’ in Australian television.
‘I think Sylvia is a fabulous choice – I think it’s a wonderful changing of the guard, actually.
‘Going back into breakfast TV would have been going backwards, and I don’t wanna do that at 50,’ she told Daily Mail on Thursday
Samantha also threw her support behind Jeffreys, saying the coveted role should go to a fresh face rather than someone who has already spent more than a decade in the breakfast TV trenches. ‘It’s time for some fresh faces. I think Sylvia is a fabulous choice,’ she said
‘It’s time for some fresh faces. Let’s get this younger female talent onto our screens,’ she continued.
‘I wish them all the best. I think they will do a spectacular job with it, and I hope they put up a good fight.’
Armytage certainly knows what it takes to survive the notoriously gruelling breakfast television schedule.
She first became a permanent fixture of Australian mornings when she joined Weekend Sunrise in 2007, co-hosting alongside Andrew O’Keefe.
After six years on the weekend edition, she was promoted to Seven’s flagship weekday program in 2013, replacing Melissa Doyle alongside David ‘Kochie’ Koch.
Sam would remain at the helm of Sunrise for almost eight years, becoming one of Australian television’s most recognisable personalities while helping steer the program through countless major breaking news events, celebrity interviews and unpredictable live television moments.
Karl Stefanovic resigned from the network after his interview with far-right figure Tommy Robinson. Meanwhile, Sarah has announced she will leave the show at the end of the year
When she eventually announced her departure in March 2021, Armytage left while Sunrise remained on top of the breakfast TV ratings.
She was replaced by longtime Sunrise newsreader Natalie Barr.
Sam eventually returned to primetime television, hosting Farmer Wants A Wife for Seven before making the bombshell move to rival Nine in 2024.
She was signed by the network to front The Golden Bachelor Australia and has since achieved an unusual television milestone by filling in on Today, the longtime rival of the show she once ruled.
And Sam clearly relishes the fact she has now sat behind both of Australia’s biggest breakfast television desks.
‘They’re very different. Well, I mean, they’re the same show, but they’re very different. The cultures are very different,’ she said of Sunrise and Today.
‘I am the first person that’s ever done both shows on both networks. So I kind of love that.’
Sam said returning to breakfast television had felt immediately familiar after so many years in the format.
‘I had fun, and as I’ve said from the start, I had a lot of fun doing it, and it’s a very familiar space to me, and I could do it with my eyes closed,’ she said.
‘But that doesn’t mean at 50 you have to do it again. You know, I didn’t have anything left to prove.
At the Channel Nine Upfronts the television veteran teased that she has several new projects in the pipeline.
‘There’s some great projects coming,’ she teased.
The tantalising remark comes as Armytage prepares for another season of The Golden Bachelor Australia, which she revealed will feature not one but two leading men.
Sam said the new season would deliver considerably more drama as a result.
‘We’ve got two Golden Bachelors in season two, so there was a lot more going on,’ she said.
‘It was a lot busier, a lot more chaos, a lot more drama, which of course, you know, it’s reality TV. We love that. We lean into that.’