‘He’d want his money back if he paid $55,000 for that’: Karl Stefanovic angrily denies spending a fortune on hair plugs – and says his darker locks are due to poor lighting on Today’s set
Karl Stefanovic has angrily denied spending $55,000 on hair plugs and says his new darker locks are the result of subdued studio lighting due to coronavirus cutbacks.
‘It’s just completely untrue,’ a source close to the 45-year-old journalist told Daily Mail Australia of the transplant bill rumours.
‘He doesn’t know where this has come from. The idea he spent $55,000 on hair plugs is absolutely ludicrous. If he paid $55,000 for that he’d want his money back.’
The Today host appeared to have a particularly healthy-looking mane on Friday when he showed off what some believed was a new black dye job.
New look: Karl Stefanovic’s hair appeared noticeably darker on the Today show on Friday (right). He has told friends the difference was due to poor lighting. Pictured left: Karl with lighter hair in 2018
Karl’s hair appeared noticeably darker and thicker than it had in 2018 and earlier.
However, the source said Karl had not had a dye job and his hair instead looked different because Channel Nine staff numbers were down during the COVID-19 crisis and the studio was poorly lit.
‘Everyone looks like they’ve got darker hair,’ the source said.
The $55,000 hair plug bill rumour began last year when Woman’s Day reported Karl had spent that amount on transplants over the years.
In September, Karl joked about his ‘expensive’ hair on This Time Next Year.
He stepped away from a woman who was burning her bra on stage, saying: ‘Don’t want to burn my hair and stuff. Do you know what I mean? It’s expensive!’
A hair-raising figure! Last year, Woman’s Day reported that Karl had spent up to $55,000 on a hair transplant. Karl has denied the claim to friends. Pictured with Georgie Gardner in 2018
In January, Karl slammed his former colleague Richard Reid and called him a ‘tosser’ after the gossip guru discussed his hair transplant on I’m a Celebrity.
He told The Kyle and Jackie O Show: ‘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!’
Just minutes later, Richard called in to offer his side of the story.
He claimed that he and Karl didn’t get along during their seven years as co-hosts on Channel Nine’s Today show.
War of words! In January, Karl slammed his former colleague Richard Reid (pictured) and called him a ‘tosser’ after the gossip guru discussed his hair transplant on I’m a Celebrity
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’ in 2019.
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.’
Rivals: 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. Pictured with Richard Wilkins in October 2007
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.
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 had made headlines.
In 2017, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that he’d undergone a transplant 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.
Did he jump on board too? Meanwhile, Today presenter Alex Cullen (left) appears to have opted for a copper hue with his latest dye job