{"id":461436,"date":"2026-02-06T03:36:19","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461436\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T03:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T03:36:19","slug":"weekend-today-team-welcome-new-co-host-michael-atkinson-to-the-desk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/461436\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Today team welcome new co-host, Michael Atkinson, to the desk"},"content":{"rendered":"

T\ufeffhe Today team has kicked off 2026 with a bang, and this morning we welcome a new member to the family.<\/p>\n

Michael Atkinson already has a stellar career as a sports reporter for Nine and Stan Sport, bringing that skill and attention to detail to his new role as Weekend Today co-host.<\/p>\n

The 37-year-old father-of-two filled in alongside Alison Piotrowski and Lizzie Pearl earlier this year, but now it’s official.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\"TODAYSubscribe to the Today newsletter here. (Nine)<\/a>\"AlisonMichael Atkinson joins Alison Piotrowski (L) and Lizzie Pearl (R) as Weekend Today co-host. (Today)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Can Vegemite toast be turned into a schnitzel?<\/a><\/p>\n

“We’re a long way from the little kid from Quilpie, who was thinking he was probably going to grow up to be a bull rider at one point,” Michael told Karl and Sarah.<\/p>\n

“Well, then I got on a potty calf at the age of eight and cried so that career was off the table, but there was never any thought that I would end up here – it’s funny where life can take you.”<\/p>\n

Michael revealed his young son, Teddy, is not impressed with his new role as Weekend Today co-host, telling dad he would prefer he \ufeffcoach his junior cricket team on Saturdays and Sundays instead.<\/p>\n

\"MichaelThat little fella from Quilpie has come a long way. (Michael Atkinson\/Supplied)<\/p>\n

But while Teddy may not be impressed, Michael’s new co-hosts are excited to have him join the team.\ufeff<\/p>\n

“Atko has slipped right in over summer, he’s been seamless, he is just a sports guru, so he can’t wait to bring his expertise to the desk,” Alison said.<\/p>\n

“And he’s also a lot fun, which is what we need on weekends because we’re a lot of fun\ufeff too.”<\/p>\n

You can send Michael your well wishes on his new role here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T\ufeffhe Today team has kicked off 2026 with a bang, and this morning we welcome a new member…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":461437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[64,63,134,427],"class_list":["post-461436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}