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"The numbers don't lie": Sunrise and Today take their ratings rivalry to the next level

<p dir="ltr">Tensions have reached new heights between Australian networks Seven and Nine, with one broadcaster releasing a public statement in defence of its own reportedly lacklustre breakfast show audience numbers. </p> <p dir="ltr">According to a new report from the <em>Daily Telegraph</em>, Nine’s <em>Today </em>has been lagging behind Seven’s <em>Sunrise</em>, with year-to-date average audience figures putting <em>Sunrise </em>ahead by 18 per cent.</p> <p dir="ltr">At a national scale, things don’t look much better for Nine, with <em>Sunrise</em>’s average sitting at 363,000 viewers and 271,000 for <em>Today </em>- numbers confirmed by <em>news.com.au</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The publication also reported that a source claimed executives were concerned about <em>Today</em>’s new line-up of Karl Stefanovic and Sarah Abo, and that it may not be connecting with their audiences as intended.</p> <p dir="ltr">Nine’s director of morning television, Steven Burling, had plenty to say about the report, calling it a “fabrication and a distortion of the old fashioned and out of date overnight ratings system.” </p> <p dir="ltr">He also noted that <em>Today </em>was actually in a favourable position with younger audiences, and considered that to be “all important”.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, <em>Sunrise</em> weren’t too keen on accepting that fact, with a spokesperson for their network informing news.com.au that the ratings that had placed <em>Sunrise</em> at the top of the pecking order were, in fact, accurate.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The numbers don’t lie,” they stated. “<em>Sunrise</em> has been number one for 19 years and is number one again this year, across the capital cities and nationally.</p> <p dir="ltr">“<em>Sunrise </em>wins in Sydney, New South Wales, Victoria, Adelaide, South Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Tasmania, and Queensland. It is growing well in Melbourne. <em>Today</em> is ahead in Brisbane.”</p> <p dir="ltr">They also had thoughts about<em> Today </em>being ahead with younger age groups, unwilling to believe it and instead arguing that <em>Sunrise </em>was the leader of the pack with the 25-54 group. </p> <p dir="ltr">The same couldn’t be said for the 16-39 age bracket, with <em>Today</em> still seizing the win there. </p> <p dir="ltr">The situation may yet change, as it’s already been in flux for a few years, with the two shows actually managing to narrow their gap in 2021.</p> <p dir="ltr">2022 and 2023 were a different story, with that divide widening again, leading many to speculate that it may or may not have something to do with each breakfast programme’s chosen line-up. </p> <p dir="ltr">David Koch has been hosting over at <em>Sunrise</em> for 20 years - with co-host Natalie Barr contributing in some capacity for the same span of time. </p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, <em>Today</em> has endured shake up after shake up in recent times, with Karl Stefanovic’s co-host Sarah Abo only joining him at the helm in 2023, after Allison Langdon left for a position at <em>A Current Affair</em>. </p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Sunrise / Seven, Today / Nine </em></p>

TV

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Logies rivalry: Amanda Keller's awkward moment about Carrie Bickmore

<p>Host of <em>The Living Room</em> Amanda Keller is up for multiple Logie Awards this year, and she did not hold back when talking about her fellow nominees.</p> <p>Appearing on <em>The Project</em> on Wednesday night, the 57-year-old was asked a few awkward questions about how she feels going up against Carrie Bickmore and Waleed Aly in her award categories.</p> <p>She was first asked why she believes she deserves the Gold over Waleed, before answering how she would feel if she lost against Carrie in the “Most Popular Presenter” category.</p> <p>“Our very own Carrie Bickmore is up for most popular presenter. She’s a gun,” said co-host Gorgi Coghlan.</p> <p>“She hasn’t even been on TV for almost nine months. So how will you feel if she beats you in that category?” she asked Keller.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center" data-lang="en-gb"> <p dir="ltr">Waleed’s Gold Logie nominee-nemy Amanda Keller joins us to chat about all things Logies! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TheProjectTV?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TheProjectTV</a> <a href="https://t.co/9p6BCy6AOk">pic.twitter.com/9p6BCy6AOk</a></p> — The Project (@theprojecttv) <a href="https://twitter.com/theprojecttv/status/1143811681715462145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">26 June 2019</a></blockquote> <p>Despite the awkward exchange, Amanda didn’t seem to mind answering as she offered a joke about Carrie who has been on maternity leave since welcoming her third child.</p> <p>“Oh look, Carrie has had a baby,” the veteran host said.</p> <p>“She’s got a baby on the shelf at home. She doesn’t need a Logie.”</p> <p>Comedian and co-host Peter Helliar then made a witty remark telling people not to put “babies on shelves".</p> <p>“Don’t put babies on shelves,” said Amanda, before saying: “Use them as doorstops, obviously. Logies – not babies.”</p> <p>Amanda is nominated for “Most Popular Presenter” as well as the top prize of the night – the Gold Logie.</p> <p>Also hoping to win the Gold is Sam Mac, Tom Gleeson and Waleed Aly.</p>

News

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The Campbell sisters open up about their rivalry to Andrew Denton: "We're invisible to each other"

<p>Aussie swim stars Cate and Bronte Campbell have revealed in a new interview how they juggle being both sisters and competitors.</p> <p>Speaking with Andrew Denton on his new show, the sisters talked about their experience racing against each other at the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.</p> <p>When Bronte won gold in the relay race at the games, video footage emerged of Cate looking reserved, prompting rumours a rift was developing.</p> <p>Elder sibling Cate watched on as the Aussie team broke the all-time World Record with a time of 3:30:65.</p> <p>The announcement that Cate had been left out of the women’s relay team occurred just hours before the race.</p> <p>When Denton asked if there was any tension between them behind the blocks, the sisters confessed that they were “invisible” to each other before the race.</p> <p>“Behind the blocks, it’s like, ‘She ... I don’t know her. Why would I help her?’” Cate said, laughing.</p> <p>“That sounds pretty selfish but, at the end of the day, it’s your race. You just gotta do your own thing,” Bronte said.</p> <p>Denton asked the siblings if any pre-race sledging went on between them. </p> <p>“No, we can’t do that. That’s pointless. I mean, at the end of the day, when we’re up there and especially when we’re racing against the rest of the world,” Bronte said.</p> <p>As the interview went on, it was clear the Campbell sisters didn’t have any jealousy over each other’s successes.</p> <p>“If you can’t do well, you want your sister to do well, you want Australia to do well, you want your family to do well, you want someone you love to do well and so why would you jeopardise that?” Bronte said.</p> <p>Cate, 25, and Bronte, 23, described what it was like when they were racing against each other in the individual 100m event – with Bronte taking the gold.</p> <p>“I was breathing in Cate’s direction coming into the last 25, and so I could see her. I could see she was ahead of me and then that was the last time I looked at her. It was pretty overwhelming. You could feel ... you could hear the crowd, so I knew something was happening. I don’t remember it, to be honest. I remember bits of it but I don’t have a very clear memory of it at all,” said Bronte.</p> <p>Cate explained that the final moments of the race were a blur for her too.</p> <p>“I could see that Bronte was right next to me but, like, you’re breathing so quickly and you’re so low in the water and there’s water going everywhere that I didn’t exactly know,” she said.</p> <p>“You know, it’s why people watch sport and, honestly, people are like, ‘Oh, you know, aren’t you annoyed at her or angry at her?’ I’m like, ‘no’. Yes, everyone loves to win. I’m not going to deny that. But I’m so proud of Bronte and what she’s done.</p> <p>“You know what? Coming second isn’t that much of a big deal. Like, everyone wants number one.”</p>

Relationships

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3 of the most iconic rivalries throughout history

<p>Some rivalries fizzle out before the end of high school, while others become legendary feuds that make it into the history books.</p> <p><strong>1. Bette Davis and Joan Crawford</strong></p> <p>The rivalry between these two actors is as iconic as the two women themselves, if not more so. The best example of the venom that fuelled the bitter feud occurred during the 1963 Best Actress race at the Oscars. Davis scored a nomination for <em>What Ever Happened to Baby Jane</em>, while Crawford, her co-star, was left out in the cold. Determined to see Davis denied the third Oscar she so publically desired, Crawford began campaigning <em>against</em> her, even speaking with the other nominated actors to let them know she would happily accept the award on their behalf should they not wish to attend the ceremony. In the end, Crawford triumphed, in a way, and walked out on stage to accept the Oscar for Anne Bancroft, while Bette Davis seethed backstage.</p> <p><strong>2. Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla</strong></p> <p>Two of the most brilliant scientific minds of the 20th century were bitter rivals for much of their professional life. Edison had little formal training, and relied on experimentation to make his discoveries, while Tesla was a trained engineer who could effectively theorise before carrying out his ideas. Edison hired Tesla early on, but the two remained at odds with each other – one of their most famous disagreements being about their respective electricity delivery methods. Tesla’s alternating current (AC) allowed power to periodically change direction, and was more efficient at transferring large quantities to places like cities. Edison’s direct current (DC) was able to maintain a lower voltage at a constant level that was safer for consumers, but severely limited the distance it could travel.</p> <p><strong>3. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo</strong></p> <p>It’s difficult to pinpoint the source of the animosity between these two, or at least the dislike Michelangelo had for da Vinci, but it is reported that the two men had a run in that is still talked about today. When passing a group of nobles who were discussing a passage in Dante, da Vinci was asked to explain the passage to the group. Michelangelo happened to be passing at the same time, and when one of the group called out to him, da Vinci reportedly exclaimed, “Michelangelo will be able to tell you what it means.” This, apparently, was the wrong thing to say. Whether Michelangelo thought da Vinci was trying to entrap him, or whether he was just full of hate for his colleague, his reply was pure venom: “No, explain it yourself, horse-modeller that you are, who, unable to cast a statue in bronze, were forced to give up in shame.” Michelangelo then turned on his heel and left.</p> <p>Which is your favourite historical feud? Let us know in the comments below. </p>

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Sibling rivalries in my childhood shaped who I am today

<p><strong><em>Maddie Grigg writes a weekly column for The People’s Friend, the oldest women’s weekly magazine in the world. She specialises in flights of fancy and has published three books.</em></strong></p> <p>It’s my big sister’s birthday today. Happy birthday, Sally!</p> <p>She’s sixteen years older than me and the gap when I was growing up seemed huge. She and my second sister, who is fourteen years older than me, were young women living away from home by the time I can remember them.</p> <p>I was the baby in a big family, living on the land in a rural village. It was an idyllic upbringing and I have much to be thankful for. I was the youngest of five, brought up on dairy farm down a country lane edged with campions and gypsy lace, on the edge of a golden-stoned village in Somerset, England.</p> <p>The third sister is eight years older than me and my only brother is six years my senior. I shared a double bed with the third sister, who would read me Don Quixote when I was eight and let me have a walk-on part with my deer with two strings in her legendary puppet shows.</p> <p>My brother I hated, and the feeling was mutual. He disliked me because I was annoying, messed up his train set and had crushes on his friends.  I couldn’t stand him because he would tease me (in one oft-quoted family story, he tricked me into eating a snail, complete with shell, which he’d found minding its own business on the side of the road). He also had a cooked breakfast when I had to make do with Weetabix.</p> <p>The slights, now, seemed enormous then. But, in the grand scheme of things, I count myself extremely lucky, especially in a world where poverty and horrors are not confined to the Third World. Family life is not necessarily what it’s cracked up to be.</p> <p>In my family, my brother was spoiled because he was the only boy. I was indulged because I was the youngest. And all our lives the two of us have been getting away with it.</p> <p>I remember yelling at my brother when he had me in a headlock while mother and father were doing the milking and we were meant to be watching <em>Animal Magic</em> that if a policeman said I was allowed to kill him, I would. (Note the nod to the law, I wasn’t completely stupid. I wanted to commit a crime but without the punishment.) I am ashamed to say that when I was ten and he was critically injured in scooter accident, I really wanted him to die. Fortunately, he didn’t. Now we’re the best of friends.</p> <p>My sister’s birthday got me thinking about sibling rivalry and whether the position you are in your family can affect you as you are growing up, and even have a bearing on the person you are now. I think it did for me. I still try, one way or another, to always get what I want. There is no such word as can’t and anything is possible. I eat too quickly because, in the back of my mind, is a memory of me dropping something from the table and getting back up to find one of my siblings had stolen two of my roast potatoes. Being the youngest of a bright bunch, I also was expected to do well at school and go on to university. So I didn’t. Thus began the birth of a quiet rebel.</p> <p>Did you have a sibling rivalry when you were growing up? Share your stories with us in the comments below.</p> <p><em>To read more of Maddie Grigg’s work, please visit her <a href="http://www.maddiegrigg.com/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">blog here</span></strong></a>.</em></p> <p><em>If you have a story to share please get in touch at <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="mailto:melody@oversixty.com.au">melody@oversixty.com.au</a></span></strong></em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/10/quotes-about-siblings/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">9 heart-warming quotes about siblings</span></em></strong></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2015/11/family-birth-order-personality-traits/"><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">What your ranking in the family pecking order says about you</span></strong></em></a></p> <p><a href="/lifestyle/family-pets/2016/03/video-shows-what-it-is-like-to-raise-grandkids/"><strong><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Touching video shows what it’s like to raise grandkids</span></em></strong></a></p>

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