Today host Karl Stefanovic reignited his feud with American gossip guru Richard Reid on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday.
He labelled the entertainment reporter a ‘tosser of the highest order’ for outing him for getting a hair transplant on last year’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!
On Monday, Richard briefly addressed his feud with Karl on Studio 10, saying: ‘I think I got off light being called a tosser, honestly!’
Regrets? Richard Reid has admitted he ‘feels bad’ outing Karl Stefanovic for getting hair plugs while on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! last year
The entertainment reporter, 51, claimed he’d forgot he was being filmed while in the South African jungle last year.
‘I will say it’s been a year since I made those comments,’ Richard began. ‘The thing is, I do feel bad now about saying that abut Karl, about his hair.’
But he was quick to clarify: ‘I’m not apologising [for what I said]. I’m saying he could have called me a whole lot worse!’
‘I wish him nothing but the best, he and Jasmine are expecting a baby. There is no bad blood here on my side,’ he concluded.
Second thoughts: ‘The thing is, I do feel bad now about saying that abut Karl, about his hair,’ Richard said on Studio 10 on Monday
Whoops! The entertainment reporter, 51, claimed he’d forgot he was being filmed while in the South African jungle last year. Pictured on I’m a Celebrity
Karl, 45, was clearly still angry about Richard outing him for getting a hair transplant last year during his appearance on Thursday’s Kyle and Jackie O show.
‘When Richard mentioned [the hair plugs] on I’m a Celebrity, what were your thoughts on that, Karl?’ asked radio personality Jackie ‘O’ Henderson.
He replied: ‘When he said it, I had to turn off that show and I just thought, “You are just a tosser.” Richard Reid is a tosser of the highest order!’
It’s war! Karl’s feud with Richard exploded live on The Kyle and Jackie O Show on Thursday. Karl is pictured with his Today co-host, Allison Langdon (right), in Melbourne
Just minutes later, Richard spoke to Kyle and Jackie O via telephone to offer his side of the story.
He claimed that he and Karl didn’t get along during their seven years as colleagues on Channel Nine’s Today show.
He also defended his hair transplant revelation by saying he had ‘kept Karl’s name in the headlines… when he didn’t have a job’.
‘He’s a tosser’: The 45-year-old journalist was angry that Richard, 51, had outed him for getting a hair transplant on last year’s season of I’m a Celeb. Pictured on The Kyle and Jackie O Show
Taking a swipe: But Richard hit back, saying that Karl was ‘full of himself’ on the Today show and would often ‘talk about himself in the third person’
Brushing off Karl’s insult, he added with a laugh: ‘At least I’m a tosser of the highest order! Does that mean I get a crown or a medal?’
When Kyle Sandilands asked directly if Richard had a problem with his ex-colleague, he replied sarcastically: ‘I like Karl just fine. I like him just fine in small doses.
The pair’s feud went public in February 2019 when Richard – who hosted a daily Hollywood gossip segment on Today from 2008 until 2015 – let slip on I’m a Celebrity that Karl had undergone a hair transplant years earlier.
Former colleagues: Richard (right) hosted a daily Hollywood gossip segment on Today from 2008 until 2015. Pictured with Karl (left) and Richard Wilkins (centre) on October 31, 2007
Recalling the moment he discovered Karl’s hair loss, he said: ‘So I go into the hair room, and this guy looks up and he’s kind of balding… It was Karl Stefanovic without his spray-on hair!
‘And then he went away and got hair plugs. He had one of those six-week vacations and came back with [makes gesture for hair plugs]. And he still used the spray-on until it filled in!’
Of course, it wasn’t the first time Karl’s hair transplant had made headlines.
In 2017, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that he’d undergone the procedure because he was feeling ‘pressure’ to look younger.
The publication claimed he’d had a ‘subtle hair transplant’ a few years earlier to cover thinning at the front and top.
King of the jungle: Richard eventually won his season of I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!