Sylvia Jeffreys – A Lovely Way To Start The Day

By Dan Hutton on November 28, 2014 in People

Where are you originally from?
I’m from the suburb of Coorparoo in Brisbane, born and bred. I’m a very proud Queenslander. I grew up in a house with my mum, brother and sister, and we were about 150 metres from my grandpa’s house, which is where my mum was born. We grew up with our cousins, aunts and uncles. It was a very close extended family in the same suburb.

Where are you living these days?
In Bondi; well, North Bondi to be precise.

What do you love about the Eastern Suburbs?
What’s not to love? Having the beach on my doorstep is a novelty that will never wear off. Coming from Brisbane, you’ve got to drive an hour to the Gold Coast or an hour and a half to the Sunshine Coast, so walking out my front door and landing on the beach in five minutes is phenomenal. It’s good for the soul. Living in Bondi has reinvigorated my enjoyment of running because I can run along the cliffs. It’s so beautiful and distracting that you don’t even realise you’re running. More than that, it’s the village feel of the Eastern Suburbs. The people in my local coffee shop know my name and I know the guy who runs the newsagency and I know my butcher. It’s a really vibrant little village and you’re always running into people that you know. Especially being from Brisbane, there’s a fairly large contingent of Brisbane ex pats living in Bondi these days, so you don’t feel too far from home.

Is there anything you don’t like about the Eastern Suburbs?
The parking tickets. Having to pay for parking everywhere is something that I’ve really struggled with in Sydney because parking is much more accessible in Brisbane. And I don’t like it when the southerly picks up so much that the doors and windows rattle in my house. But that’s about it.

Do you have any favourite local haunts?
My favourite coffee is at the Organic Republic Bakery on the corner of Glenayr and Warners Avenue. I love Porch and Parlour for breakfast and for an afternoon wine and cheese board. And Bangkok Bites on Hall Street is my favourite place for Thai.

How did you get into journalism?
I was always going towards journalism from high school and I started studying at the University of Queensland when I was 18. In my first six months of uni, I landed a junior production assistant role in the Channel Nine newsroom in Brisbane. That was where I cut my teeth and learnt the tricks of the trade. I progressed very slowly up through the ranks there from production assistant, to a librarian, to a PA, to a researcher, to a full blown producer and then to an on the road journalist. My first on air job was with a show called ‘Extra’, which was basically like a really local soft version of ‘A Current Affair’. That was really fun and I eventually ended up in the newsroom from there.

Did you find thay it was big change coming to Sydney from Brisbane?
It was a big change. I didn’t have many friends down here when I made the move. But coming into Channel Nine in Sydney was such a great way to make the transition, because it’s a really fun, vibrant, young and dynamic work environment. When I first moved here I moved into Redfern, so that made me a bit more street smart.

What’s it like working with Karl Stefanovic?
I often have to answer this question. My response generally is that I just expect the unexpected with Karl. He hates me saying this, but he’s actually a very generous and supportive colleague. In the first week when people were asking me this question, that’s what I would say. He called me in one day and he said, “Darl, I appreciate what you’re saying, that you’re being kind to me, but it’s not good for my reputation. Can you start telling people that I’m a prick?” He’s very generous and he’s very supportive. Sometimes you forget you’re working because we have such a great vibe on set. The four of us (Sylvia, Karl, Lisa Wilkinson and Ben Fordham) have such a good laugh all day and then Dickie (Richard Wilkins) comes in and adds another ingredient, and then we cross to Stevie (Jacobs) and it’s a whole other ball game. We all bounce off each other really well and Karl definitely adds a certain flavour to that.

Is Karl a bad influence on Ben Fordham?
They are a bad influence on each other, in equal parts. They certainly know how to push each other’s buttons.

Why do you think Karl and Lisa work so well together and why do you think people have embraced them?
They are a marriage made in heaven in terms of TV compatibility. She’s the calm and he’s the chaos. They genuinely have such a strong affection for each other and anything can happen with three and a half hours of live television in an environment where breaking news, rolling coverage and ad-libbing are always encouraged. They always have each other’s back and it’s quite exciting to watch the two of them at work, because they really do bounce off one another and rely on each other a lot.

Do Lisa’s husband Peter Fitzsimons and Karl get on well?
Yeah, we spend so much time with each other’s families and partners and everyone knows each other really well, and they do get on well. They’re playing in some kind of tennis tournament at the moment. Karl was saying this morning that he asked Pete on court yesterday something about climate change, and it totally threw his serve.

You’ve been dating Karl’s brother and fellow journo Peter; how did the two of you meet?
Just this summer gone we were filling in as hosts of Weekend Today. Before that we’d only spoken over the IFB doing crosses and whatnot, when I was reading the news and he was out in the field.

Was it love at first sight?
I wouldn’t go that far. It was a slow burn.

Are Karl and Peter quite similar?
Yes and no. Their sense of humour is very similar, but I would say Pete is much more of an introvert, whereas Karl’s more the performer.

Are you worried that nothing will ever be sacred given Karl’s propensity to blab things on air for laughs?
I’ve had conversations about this with Karl. He went pretty hard on it in the first month when I was on air. I think it was like a new game for him and a new topic of conversation, but he wound that up pretty quickly out of respect for our privacy.

Do you reckon Peter had a word with Karl?
I wouldn’t put it past Pete to have a word about that, because Pete’s a very, very private guy. He’s not all that keen on Karl discussing our relationship in front of the Today show audience. It’s nice that there is an interest though. It’s very sweet.

Given that Pete’s a foreign correspondent, do you worry about his safety?
Oh yeah, when he was in Gaza, that was difficult watching him. But he’s done so much of it and he’s done it for so long, and he’s very smart. He doesn’t try to be a hero in those scenarios. I worry more about his mother when he’s in those scenarios. I think she’s stopped watching him when he’s in war zones because she can’t handle it, which is understandable from a mother’s perspective.

Do you get sick of being asked about your relationship?
It is a bit funny when a few months into the relationship someone’s asking me if I’m thinking about babies. I speak to my mum about it and she says, “Sylvia, people just enjoy a good love story, so you’re just doing to have to deal with it.” That’s a nice thing.

What has it been like replacing Georgie Gardner on the Today show?
Everyone loved Georgie and I love Georgie. One of the great things about taking Georgie’s role is that I have a lovely relationship with her, so she’s been really supportive of me the whole way through. It’s hard work because a lot of people still feel like they have an ownership of the Today show. To lose someone who has been there for seven years is quite unsettling and I’m aware of that. I don’t expect people to feel settled again straight away. I’m just easing into it and hopefully over time they will get to know me the way they knew Georgie.

Have there been any negative reviews of your performance?
Yeah, there’s a bit of that. I try not to read the negative stuff because, especially in the early weeks, there’s always going to be people weighing in and having their say. Until I’ve been there for a while and they get a feel for how things are going, it’s not really going to be all that valuable to read anything like that. I feel like I’ve probably escaped semi-unscathed, so fingers crossed it continues.

Being on television every morning, do you feel pressure about your body image?
I think you’re always aware of how you look on camera, but I haven’t been one that’s obsessed over my weight. I’ve always been really physically active and very sporty. My high school was just defined by sport. For me, it’s more a feeling that I’d go insane if I didn’t exercise. It’s not so much a physical thing as it is a psychological thing for me. But it’s bizarre how much thought goes into my hair and make up now, and what I wear. I’d love to rock up every morning and wear a uniform. It would take a lot of pressure off my mornings.

Are you a fan of social media and do you think it’s important for people with a profile like yourself to be involved in social media?
I love social media. I’m very Gen Y. I’ve long been a fan of social media and Twitter in particular. Instagram is a nice little addition to the collection of apps on my iPhone. My activity has increased significantly since being on the Today show.

Are you a good responder?
I try to respond as much as possible. You can’t get back to all of them and sometimes you cop abuse. The funniest one I got the other day was: “Sylvia, your eyes are so beady I have to turn the television off every time you come on.” I didn’t respond to that guy. But when you get someone asking something about a story, or asking for advice on how to reach out to someone who was on our show looking for help, or just someone who wants to know what I was wearing, it’s easy to get back to them. I think that goes a long way in showing people that you’re grateful for their viewership.

What’s the biggest story you’ve covered as a journo?
The most significant would be the Queensland floods. I spent a couple of weeks following it when it was in central Queensland and then it moved down into south east Queensland. I did Emerald and Bundaberg and Rockhampton and then moved down into Ipswich. I was in Ipswich at the height of it. It was one of those moments where you’re doing something that you know is really helping people in the community, first of all by giving them the information they needed to get their belongings out and get out of town or to higher ground, and then beyond that it was showing the rest of the country what these people were going through, and therefore raising awareness of their issues and how people could help them. It was a really significant time for me covering the Queensland floods.

Have you ever feared for your life in the field?
Yes, in a plane once with former premier Anna Bligh. We were coming back after the floods from the small town of Theodore a recovery kind of story doing a couple of months on from the floods. We were heading home back in a very small plane and it was struck by lightening. Everyone was trying to be very calm on the way down because they could see I was panicking. When we landed, the pilot got out and said, “The plane’s going to be grounded for 18 months to undergo repairs because both wings and the tail had been hit and were smoking.”

Have you ever been particularly star-struck during an interview?
Jason Priestley. He was one of my first interviews for the ‘Today’ show. I was a Brandon girl (Beverly Hills 90210 reference), so doing that interview was pretty incredible for me. I was a bit gushy and teenage girl like. I also did an interview with Richard Branson once on his little island in Queensland, off the Sunshine Coast. He’d had a big party the night before and we had to wake him up to come and do the interview. You could see him progressively warming up more and more into the interview, to the point where he started cracking jokes about the Kama Sutra beside the bed and saying, “Have a look at this bath tub, why don’t you come and sit in it with me?” That was a fun day doing a little tour of his island.

Would you say that he’s the biggest celeb you’ve met?
I’ve interviewed Miranda Kerr a few times, Richard Branson, Jason Priestley and Jamie Oliver – they’re all up there.

Channel Seven’s Sunrise is just pipping Today in the ratings at the moment; what are the most important factors in ensuring good ratings?
I think it’s just running your own race. I think it’s all about knowing what your product is and what your show is, and sticking to that theme and making sure you’re consistent for the sake of the audience. I think the moment you start trying to copy the opposition is the moment you lose your foundation and your old school followers. Today is all about a very strong news base and we’re a pretty real crew. I think that’s why we’ve been the country’s longest running breakfast television show. As long as we just stick to our guns and do what we’re good at, then we will succeed.

From a personal point of view, is it pretty competitive between the two rival breakfast shows?
Not at all; everyone gets on really well. I’ve come across Sam (Armytage) many times in recent months. She’s a top chick and we get on really well. Everyone gets on great. Edwina Bartholomew from ‘Sunrise’ as well. When I was reporting for Today she was reporting for Sunrise, so we would often end up at crime scenes and house fires and such things together. She’s one of the greatest girls you will come across.

How do you find the early starts? What time do you actually get up and go to bed?
I get up at 3.10am. I hope to be asleep by 8.30pm, but sometimes you’re just not tired enough and you stare at the ceiling until 9.30pm. But that’s okay; I’ve done it before. When I first came to Sydney, I was doing the early starts. You’ve just got to be really strict and it does kill the social life to a certain degree, which is difficult. I was a 28 year old at the time. I’m a bit of a nanna anyway, so I quite enjoy going to bed early. I like having an excuse to go to leave early and go to bed. You just blame it on the early starts and people are very sympathetic.

Where would you like to see journalism take you?
I’m open to suggestion. What I found along the way is that you never know what you’re going to enjoy or be good at until you give it a crack. I’ve got a pretty open mind in that sense. I definitely see myself staying in television. I love the medium; I love working with pictures. You can tell a story with so much impact when you’ve got pictures to work with. It’s what I know and what I do now. I definitely see myself staying in television, but radio is a great medium too. I enjoy writing so I’m like a typical Gen Y person; I’m pretty open to all sorts of options.

Do you worry about the decline of commercial television?
No, not at all, especially at Channel Nine. Nine’s foundation is 100 percent news. If anything, there are more and more news programs being added to our schedule. I think I’m probably in the safest position possible when it comes to television journalism at Nine. It’s a really strong news environment. That said, nothing’s certain and nothing is forever, but I don’t worry about it at all for now. I think it’s best to just stay positive and keep trucking.

What do you get up to in your spare time?
I spend a lot of time at the beach. I try to keep fit; that’s a pretty strong focus for me, so I go to the gym down at Bronte at Lifecycle Fitness. I do soft sand running with my brother, swim laps at Icebergs and do yoga down at Hall Street. I fill a lot of time with that. I am a social butterfly when I’m not tired, so I basically just tap into all my friends in Bondi and surrounds.

Do you support any charities?
I do, yes. I’m an ambassador for Youngcare, which aims to get young people with disabilities out of aged care facilities. It’s a Brisbane based organisation that’s now expanded into Sydney and hopefully Melbourne as well. I’m an ambassador for them and also for the Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Do you have any advice for youngsters looking to make a career out of journalism?
Work hard and be prepared to give up your weekends. Don’t expect glamour but expect to meet some of the most interesting, intriguing and generous people around, because that’s what journalists are mostly.

Do you have any particular role models yourself?
Karl and Lisa have always been, and Georgie for a long time. To be working next to Karl and Lisa every day is pretty incredible and certainly very helpful for me at this point in my career. Channel Nine’s just full of incredible people. We’ve got Liz Hayes, Tara Brown and Tracy Grimshaw, and they are all incredible interviewers and journalists, but also really compassionate people. That’s what makes them such good journalists. I consider myself extremely privileged to have even crossed paths with Peter Harvey, let alone to have worked in the same office as him for a short period of time. He was so encouraging of the young journalists at Nine and not afraid to give you compliments or feedback. The day he stopped and told me he thought I was doing a good job on the Today show, I could have just thrown in the towel and said, “That’s enough for me.”

In an ideal world what does the future hold for Sylvia Jeffreys?
It would hopefully hold a long and prosperous career, but more importantly a very happy and healthy life surrounded by my friends and my family… hopefully close to the beach.