Natalie Barr and Matt Shirvington are capping off their extraordinary year with a good old-fashioned Christmas singalong, stepping in to host this year’s Carols in the Domain. “This is an exciting one, because we haven’t done Carols live since COVID, so I think there’s going to be extra energy and extra excitement this year, because we’re live,” Barr said. The pair have much to celebrate.
This year their breakfast television show Sunrise won ratings nationally, and did so with a landslide in WA, scoring a 219 per cent bigger audience than the nearest commercial TV rival, Today. “Pardon the pun, but this year has been a crackers one for us,” Shirvington told The Sunday Times. “Nat and I were thrust into a new situation halfway through last year (when ex-Sunrise host David Koch announced his retirement) and we were chasing our tails.
.. “We took a break over last Christmas and recalibrated, and came back this time and had our first full year together at the desk — it’s been great.
“We’ve achieved a lot; the team is humming, and the ratings reflect that.” For Barr, who has been with Sunrise since 2003, these past 12 months have been a chance to get to know her co-host better. They have consolidated their friendship both on and off-camera.
“This is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle,” she said. “You don’t just rock up to the office — you live it. “It’s a combination of the weird hours and the 24-hour nature of it — you have to be acros.
