{"id":250057,"date":"2026-01-24T20:31:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:31:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250057\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T20:31:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T20:31:16","slug":"ali-pugh-on-her-decision-to-return-to-breakfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/250057\/","title":{"rendered":"Ali Pugh on her decision to return to Breakfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new year of Breakfast kicks off tomorrow with a fresh (but far from unfamiliar) face joining Chris Chang on a new set. Ali Pugh talks about her choice to commute from Christchurch to Auckland for the role. <\/p>\n

When Ali Pugh got the call asking if she could co-host Breakfast for the first part of this year \u2013 before Tova O’Brien joins the team in April \u2013 she had a lot to mull over.<\/p>\n

Firstly, there was the hefty commute \u2013 from Christchurch to Auckland and back again every week \u2013 juggled around the schedules of three young kids. And then, of course, the eye-watering 3.30am wakeup calls and equally unsociable bedtimes that come with a role on Breakfast. <\/p>\n

With all that in mind, did she hesitate? \u201cNo!\u201d she says, laughing. \u201cI didn\u2019t pause. I didn\u2019t even consult my husband before I said yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The thing is, Ali Pugh and Breakfast go back a long way and her respect and affection for the show runs deep. <\/p>\n

\u201cBreakfast has been a part of my life since I started as a round-up reporter in 2009, or maybe it was 2010,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was basically my first real job in journalism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/p>\n

Ali Pugh reporting from the Christchurch rebuild in 2012. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

A few years later Ali spent two years as co-host of the show alongside Rawdon Christie \u2013 a career highlight. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love that there\u2019s always space made on Breakfast to have a laugh and bring the joy into people\u2019s living rooms at the beginning of the day,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a privilege to help people set their day up.<\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/p>\n

Ali Pugh and Rawdon Christie (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to be back on the couch. Well, it\u2019s not a couch anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

True. In the 2026 version of Breakfast the couches have vanished. In fact, the whole set has been given an overhaul with the previous theme we\u2019ll call “forest\u2019s edge” replaced by one we\u2019ll term “urban dawn”. The presenters sit on stools at high desks now, rather than lounging on sofas \u2013 perhaps reflecting the fact that 2026 is set to be a fast-paced news extravaganza (an election, the FIFA world cup, and of course the increasingly intense international political pantomime). <\/p>\n

Something \u2013 or rather, someone \u2013 who\u2019s still on the set however is co-host Chris Chang, and Ali couldn\u2019t be more delighted. \u201cChris and I go way back and I’m a big fan of his,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

The admiration is mutual with Chris stoked that his new, albeit temporary, co-host is Ali Pugh. <\/p>\n

\"Ali<\/p>\n

Ali and Chris rehearsing on the set last week. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Ali is fantastic,\u201d he says, joining us in the TVNZ offices. \u201cThat\u2019s a typical comment to make about a new co-host but I mean it. We\u2019ve talked in the past about how fun it would be to co-host together, but it\u2019s never really been a possibility because Ali\u2019s been in Christchurch.<\/p>\n

\u201cCo-hosting Breakfast is such an all-consuming job, from morning to night,\u201d he says. \u201cNot many people would have to engage with another person for that many hours in a day. So ideally you want someone who doesn\u2019t make it feel like work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ali agrees. \u201cIt would be very draining if you had to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The long-time colleagues catch up in the TVNZ office. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

The pair met over ten years ago while working on Breakfast. \u201cYou got that high-profile job [as co-host] when you were quite young and I was still a junior reporter,\u201d recalls Chris to Ali. <\/p>\n

Both now in their late 30s, they talk about how they\u2019ve led somewhat \u201cparallel lives\u201d, with each of them now married and raising three young daughters. <\/p>\n

One difference is that while Ali says she\u2019s not naturally a morning person (though can obviously be one when required) Chris definitely is. \u201cWell, I\u2019m not a night person, so by default yes, I\u2019m a morning person,\u201d he says. \u201cI can\u2019t stay up late at all now. I went to Ed Sheeran the other night and I was like, come on Ed, time for bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Making it work<\/p>\n

For Ali, the next few months will look very different from the past decade spent juggling parenthood of Thea, 10, Heidi, 7 and Jemima, 4, with part-time reporting on TVNZ\u2019s 6pm News.<\/p>\n

For one thing, she\u2019ll have a lot of time to focus purely on work. \u201cBecause the afternoons are so hectic as a mum, the school pick-up, then the chauffeuring to activities, the homework, cooking dinner. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy afternoons and evenings will look quite different now. I\u2019ll still be prepping for the next day\u2019s show but I’ll be able to focus on one thing, which as a mum you never fully can.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s different, but not daunting. Ali is confident about leaving her girls with their dad Jo Barus, a musician who plays with Sir Dave Dobbyn and is able to be a fulltime parent on weekdays, with Ali returning to Christchurch for the weekends. \u201cHe\u2019s a wonderful support,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s good for the girls too, to see their mum working. Although I don\u2019t think they\u2019ve quite grasped what\u2019s happening yet, they will when they see me on TV. They\u2019re very intrigued and I\u2019ve promised I\u2019ll let them come up to Auckland and visit the set and sit on the seats.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Some<\/p>\n

Some of the Breakfast team preparing the new set last week. (Source: TVNZ)<\/p>\n

But for now, Ali Pugh is focused on settling into that seat herself. She may have been in the role before but she\u2019s far from complacent about its demands. \u201cThe show\u2019s changed a lot,\u201d she says. \u201cThe format is a lot more full-on now with a lot more presenter contribution.\u201d<\/p>\n

We ask Chris, now a Breakfast veteran, if he has any tips for his new colleague. <\/p>\n

\u201cGod no,\u201d he says. \u201cI don\u2019t need to tell her anything. She\u2019s good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breakfast is back on-air weekdays from 6-9am on TVNZ 1 and TVNZ+ from Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new year of Breakfast kicks off tomorrow with a fresh (but far from unfamiliar) face joining Chris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250058,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,384,417,437],"class_list":{"0":"post-250057","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-new-zealand","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz","12":"tag-people","13":"tag-television","14":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250057"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250057\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}