Natalie Barr hits back at Kyle Sandilands for calling her 'cold' and suggesting that hosting Sunrise could be 'career suicide'

Natalie Barr faced off with Kyle Sandilands on Monday, after he sensationally called her 'cold' and said she didn't deserve to replace Sam Armytage on Sunrise.

Natalie, 52, confronted the radio presenter, 49, live on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, insisting he didn't know her well enough to make such a claim. 

'Sorry, Kyle, I actually have not met you in person, but maybe if you met me in person you'd see that I'm not that cold,' she said.

Kyle reminded Natalie that he'd formed his opinion about her personality based on her daily news segments for Sunrise.

'You're just reading the news when I've seen you, so I don't know your personality,' he said, trying to veer the conversation towards the general topic of media scrutiny.

'Are you worried that people will start judging you on your personality, not just great newsreading skills?' Kyle asked.

Playfully hitting back, Natalie said: 'Well, I wasn't until now, until you piped up!'

Kyle roared with laughter, as his co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson tried to smooth things over by saying: 'Oh, look what you've done! Don't worry about it, Natalie. He's fine!'  

However, it didn't take long for Kyle to put his foot in it again. 

Later in the segment, Kyle defended statements he'd made earlier in the show about Natalie getting Sam Armytage's job after 'hanging around' Sunrise for so long. 

'I was just thinking out loud... I was wondering, "Gee, what happens if it doesn't work? This will be a career suicide,"' he explained.  

'Oh! Here you are slamming me again!' Natalie replied, as Jackie turned to Kyle and scolded him: 'Just stop! You're digging deeper!'  

However, Kyle said he didn't want Natalie to fail and wished her nothing but the best.

'I just want it to work well for you. I don't want you to have that plum gig and then, like, imagine if it just implodes. Disaster!' he said. 

'Yeah... well thanks for putting those extra doubts in my mind!' Natalie responded. 

The segment ended on a positive note, however, with Natalie confirming she and Kyle were friends. 

'Don't doubt yourself. You'll be very good,' Kyle told her.   

Earlier in the show, Kyle had suggested the veteran newsreader only got Sam's job because she'd waited in the wings for so long.

'Natalie's a great newsreader - not taking anything away from her success - but I think you can't just hang around,' he said.

'It's like me leaving and Intern Pete [Deppeler, KIIS FM producer and occasional on-air personality] being given my job, just because he's here,' he added.

Jackie was shocked by his harsh feedback, saying: 'Oh, my god. There's nothing comparing Nat to Intern Pete! Not to offend you [Pete]!'  

'Okay, maybe you're right, Jackie,' Kyle conceded. 

'It would be like me leaving and just [being] replaced by Brooklyn [Ross, KIIS FM newsreader]. Quality broadcaster, but doesn't hold a candle to my level,' he added.   

A shocked Brooklyn interjected: 'I don't know. Nat's not bad!' 

'That's not what you want. You don't want someone who's "not bad",' Kyle replied, hinting that Seven should have hired somebody new as host.

He then added: 'You don't just get a guernsey because you're hanging around.'

Kyle also criticised Natalie's personality, calling the esteemed journalist 'cold'.

'I find her a little cold, just quietly. I've never met her, mind you. Just watched her on TV. And maybe I find her cold because she's just reading news,' he shrugged.

Later in the broadcast, Kyle said he didn't object to Natalie getting the job but felt Seven would be better off trying someone new.