The former Sunrise host filled in for Sarah Abo last year.

Samantha Armytage has addressed rumours that she will permanently host Today. Photos: Instagram/thetodayshow

Samantha Armytage has addressed rumours that she will be making a permanent return to breakfast TV as host of Today alongside Karl Stefanovic. The television presenter, who hosted Sunrise on Channel 7 from 2013 to 2021 and moved to Channel 9 last year, made a surprise appearance on the show in December, filling in for Sarah Abo.

The brief stint helped reintroduce viewers to Samantha ahead of her hosting duties on The Golden Bachelor, which she told Yahoo Lifestyle will feature “some really powerful [moments]” amid the drama and humour. However, there has been speculation that her role on the reality show is part of a larger plan to bring her back to breakfast TV.

The Australian recently reported that the network is in “secret talks” to replace Sarah with the veteran host in an effort to finally take the breakfast TV crown from Sunrise.

Samantha recently addressed these rumours during an appearance on the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, admitting that this isn’t something she would be interested in doing.

“I am completely happy to just stay in prime time now with the alarms going off at reasonable hours like 6am,” she said.

“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.”

‘Very flattering’

Elsewhere in the interview, Samantha confessed it was “a little weird” hosting Today over the summer break alongside weather presenter Dan Anstey, but said it was “a great experience”.

“Obviously, studios are different, people are different, the way that Sunrise and the Today show write their scripts, all the little details that you become used to when you host a show every day,” she said.

“It was fun. The alarm did not bother me because it was only [for] a few weeks, so that’s easy. It’s when it’s every day that it gets you.”

The veteran host said she had “so much fun” leading Sunrise for more than eight years, noting it was “very flattering” that Channel 9 trusted her to fill in on Today.

Samantha said she had ‘a great experience’ hosting Today in December. Photo: Instagram/thetodayshow

Samantha’s upcoming TV stint

The Golden Bachelor is set to premiere on Monday, October 20, at 7:30pm, with 20 women pursuing a chance at love with this year’s leading man.

The series will centre around 61-year-old Barry ‘Bear’ Myrden, who relocated from Canada to Australia in 1998 with his late wife, Audrey, to raise their three sons by the ocean.

After losing his wife in 2011, the infrastructure engineer spent years prioritising fatherhood and is now ready to open his heart again to love.

“I was trying a few different dating techniques, a bit online,” told Yahoo Lifestyle.

“And I always tell my boys, ‘If you continue to do the same thing over and over, expecting different results, that’s the definition of insanity’. So when this presented itself, I said, sure, why not?”