Karl Stefanovic and Natalie Barr clash on live radio trends now
The TV rivalry between breakfast shows Sunrise and Today came to a head on Friday evening when Karl Stefanovic and Natalie Barr appeared live on the radio together.
Nova FM's Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel drive show hosted the warring presenters for a friendly word game and tensions reached an all time high.
Despite admitting the pair get along well outside of work, Barr, 55, traded several barbs with her 'opposition' Stefanovic, 48, including pretending to forget his name.
'It's not easy looking at each other and being such fierce competitors,' the Today host remarked. 'Look at the daggers.'
The Channel Seven star attempted to put an end to speculation of a 'TV war' and confessed: 'We actually don't mind each other.'
The TV rivalry between breakfast shows Sunrise and Today came to a head on Friday evening when Karl Stefanovic, 48, (left) and Natalie Barr, 55, (centre right) appeared live on the radio together
To which Stefanovic quipped: 'That's not true.'
'You hate me? Okay, I hate you more,' Barr replied.
It all ended well however, when the Today host ended the playful argument by saying: 'Well, you're successful, and I'm not. So there.'
It comes after Stefanovic's boss came out swinging against a 'fabricated' newspaper article claiming the 'beleaguered' breakfast program is in crisis due to 'diving' ratings and viewers supposedly not warming to new co-host Sarah Abo.
Nova FM's Ricki-Lee, Tim and Joel drive show hosted the warring presenters for a friendly word game and tensions reached an all time high
Despite admitting the pair get along well outside of work, Barr shared several barbs with her 'opposition' Stefanovic including pretending to forget his name
The Daily Telegraph published a story on Friday quoting an unnamed TV executive as saying: 'Nine bosses are seriously worried and since MAFS ended, there have been daily meetings trying to figure out what to do with Today... The Karl/Sarah combination clearly isn't connecting with viewers.'
But in an extraordinary statement to Daily Mail Australia, Nine's director of morning television Steve 'Burlo' Burling called the report a 'fabrication' based on an outmoded method of TV ratings measurement.
The Telegraph's article said 'all is not right' behind the scenes at Today as it falls behind Channel Seven's Sunrise, which has won every week of the ratings year so far in the five-city metro market - though Today is more dominant on the east coast.
Sunrise has an eighteen per cent lead with an average metro audience of 213,000 viewers compared to Today's 181,000, according to OzTAM overnight figures.
Nine has come out swinging against a 'fabricated' article claiming the Today show is in crisis due to falling ratings and viewers not warming to Karl Stefanovic's new co-host Sarah Abo
The story also alleged there have been tensions among the Today show's presenters, after newsreader Alex Cullen was relegated to the sports desk while entertainment reporter Brooke Boney stepped up to the news desk.
This reshuffle at the start of the year - which coincided with Abo replacing Allison Langdon as co-anchor - is said to have culminated in Cullen making his displeasure known on air by 'deadpanning' Stefanovic and Abo.
This incident reportedly resulted in Burling holding a 'closed-door meeting' with Cullen.
But Burling has hit back at this damning report, telling Daily Mail Australia: 'The story published today is total fabrication and a distortion of the
