Karl Stefanovic wants out of his hosting gig on Channel Nine’s Today Show, according to a new interview with his former colleague and friend, Ben Fordham.

Speaking to Rachel Corbett on her podcast, You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere, the former Today sports presenter revealed that when he left the show in 2014, Stefanovic urged him to stay on the grounds he could soon be replacing him.

“When [Fordham’s wife] Jodie fell pregnant with Freddie, our firstborn … I was like ‘okay I’m going to say goodbye to being on the Today show every morning’,” Fordham told Corbett.

“Karl told me I wasn’t going,” Fordham, who now hosts 2GB Radio’s drive show, recalled.

“It’s funny, he said, ‘Mate, I’ll just do one more year and then you’ll take over as host.’ I was like, ‘Karl, you’re not the Chief Executive of the network, you’re not the EP, you don’t make decisions like that’.”

“I was like, ‘Mate, I don’t believe you anyway because you’re going to keep on going,’ and, sure enough, I was right – he’s still there.”

Fordham said the television veteran had been threatening to abandon his post for years.

“He’s been claiming for about seven years, ‘This is my last year, this is my last year’, yeah right,” Fordham said.

Stefanovic joined the breakfast show in 2005 and has co-hosted the program with Lisa Wilkinson ever since.

It has been reported the 42-year-old makes $2.5 million a year in his role at Nine, where he also works as a presenter on 60 Minutes.

Should Stefanovic quit the program it would be major news, given even the briefest absence from his hosting duties sparks mass speculation.

In April this year, Fordham filled in for Stefanovic when he took time off following his divorce from his wife of 21 years, Cassandra Thorburn.

Fordham was forced to defend his former colleague after Stefanovic’s absence prompted widespread media scrutiny about his future at the network and his commitment to the job.

“Any questioning of his work ethic is completely ridiculous because work never ends for Karl,” Fordham told news.com.au.

“I wish people would leave him alone because his family is going through a tough time and he’s still showing up for work at 5.30 every day.

“He deserves a break from the alarm clock and when he has one he often ends up on assignment for 60 Minutes anyway. Give the bloke a break.”