Karl Stefanovic says ‘red wedding’ to Jasmine saw friends, relatives lose jobs

Today host Karl Stefanovic has compared his 2018 wedding to Jasmine Yarbrough to the infamous ‘red wedding’ from Game of Thrones because so many of the guests ended up losing their jobs at Channel Nine in the aftermath.

Several high-profile guests who attended the couple’s ritzy nuptials – including the groom himself – ended up being fired, replaced or reassigned not long after the newlyweds said ‘I do’ in Mexico.

There was a great deal of public interest in Stefanovic’s personal life at the time as his divorce from first wife Cassandra Thorburn was still making headlines.

As a result, his wedding to Yarbrough, which took place at the One&Only Palmilla Resort in Los Cabos, turned into a media frenzy – which Nine bosses weren’t thrilled about.

Stefanovic, 47, told Gus Worland’s Not an Overnight Success podcast he was alarmed by the fallout from the wedding, which saw his brother Peter Stefanovic, sister-in-law Sylvia Jeffreys and friends Richard Wilkins and Tim Gilbert cut by the network.

Consequences: Today host Karl Stefanovic (second from right) has compared his 2018 wedding to Jasmine Yarbrough to the infamous ‘red wedding’ from Game of Thrones because so many of the guests ended up losing their jobs at Channel Nine in the aftermath. The fallout from the wedding saw his brother Peter Stefanovic (second from left), sister-in-law Sylvia Jeffreys (right) and friends Richard Wilkins (left) and Tim Gilbert cut by the network

‘There is a shot at my wedding of my brother [Peter], Tim Gilbert [Today’s then-sports reporter], Richard Wilkins [the entertainment reporter at the time], and it was like the red wedding in Game of Thrones,’ he said.

The ‘Red Wedding’ is an infamous massacre that occurred during the ninth episode of season three of HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, during which Robb Stark and his banner-men are killed at the wedding feast of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey for breaking a marriage pact. 

‘Everyone got totalled. Everyone got taken off the [Today] show. That was my fault. Why did it happen? I’m just in love and getting married. It was hard,’ Stefanovic said.

‘I thought my s**t didn’t stink… I was king of the world, but literally the next day [I was fired].’ 

Boned: ‘There is a shot at my wedding of my brother [Peter], Tim Gilbert [Today’s then-sports reporter], Richard Wilkins [the entertainment reporter at the time], and it was like the red wedding in Game of Thrones,’ Stefanovic, 47, told the Not an Overnight Success podcast

Bloodbath: The ‘Red Wedding’ is a massacre that occurred during the ninth episode of season three of HBO fantasy series Game of Thrones, during which Robb Stark and his banner-men are killed at the wedding feast of Edmure Tully and Roslin Frey for breaking a marriage pact

Stefanovic was dumped from Nine’s Today show in December 2018 while on his honeymoon in Aspen, Colorado, just one day after his younger brother Peter parted ways with the network ‘to explore new opportunities’.

Peter later resurfaced on Sky News, where he hosts the First Edition breakfast show.

Gilbert was another departure about this time. He left the Today show’s sports desk and now presents The Business of Sport on Sky News.

Jeffreys, the newsreader for Today, was pulled off the show and eventually ended up co-hosting Today Extra with David Campbell.

Entertainment reporter Wilkins now mostly appears on Weekend Today. 

In the two years leading up to his wedding, Stefanovic had tarnished his public image due to his divorce from Thorburn, his subsequent relationship with Yarbrough, and his perceived negative attitude towards his colleagues.

As a result, the Today show nosedived in the ratings, plunging to a 12-year low.

Controversy: Several high-profile guests who attended the Stefanovics’ ritzy nuptials – including the groom himself – ended up being fired, replaced or reassigned not long after the newlyweds said ‘I do’ in Mexico. There was a great deal of public interest in Stefanovic’s personal life at the time as his divorce from first wife Cassandra Thorburn was still making headlines. (Pictured: Karl and Jasmine Stefanovic on their wedding day in December 2018)

Out: Stefanovic was dumped from Nine’s Today show in December 2018, one day after his younger brother Peter (right) parted ways with the network ‘to explore new opportunities’

The start of the program’s downward spiral traced back to September 2016, when it emerged Stefanovic had separated from Thorburn, the mother of his three children.

A few months following the split, he began dating Yarbrough, a former-model-turned-shoe-designer who was 10 years his junior.

The pair were married during a lavish four-day wedding in Mexico in 2018.

After his split from Thorburn, a former journalist and TV producer, market research by Nine reportedly showed his popularity with female viewers had plummeted.

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Image problem: In the two years leading up to his wedding, Stefanovic had tarnished his public image due to his divorce from first wife Cassandra Thorburn (left), his subsequent relationship with Yarbrough, and his perceived negative attitude towards his colleagues. (Pictured in 2011)