Proof she's the right woman for the job! Steady ratings for Channel Seven's Sunrise as new co-host Natalie Barr finishes her first week

Ratings for Natalie Barr's first week as co-host of Channel Seven's Sunrise suggest she is the right woman for the job.

Viewership numbers were on par with figures the show was achieving when Samantha Armytage was at the helm.

Sunrise received an expected spike to 308,000 metro viewers for Sam's departure special last Thursday, before settling back to 248,000 on Monday and holding steady.

They dropped slightly to 239,000 on Tuesday, before increasing to register 248,000 viewers across the five metro capital cities on both Wednesday and Thursday.

During Sam's last week on the program, Sunrise recorded 225,000 viewers on Monday, 254,000 on Tuesday, 244,000 on Wednesday and 260,000 on Friday.

The show continues to beat Channel Nine's Today show by about 50,000 metro viewers each day

The numbers are just further confirmation that Natalie is the right pick - the show suffered no notable declines at times when the 52-year-old has previously filled in for Sam.

Meanwhile, Natalie has revealed her first week on the job was 'a bit nightmarish'.

Speaking to TV Blackbox, she explained she was not a fan of the spotlight being entirely on her.

'That's my natural habitat,' the mother-of-two said. 'I love covering the news, I love going out to these stories. But the attention on me is not my natural habitat. 

'Yesterday, the first day, was probably a bit nightmarish for me because everyone kept asking, "How are you? How are you going? What's it like?" 

'I just wanted to go back to the new normal, where we'll actually be covering the news, and the events and the great interviews that we do - not me!' 

Samantha, who joined Sunrise in 2013, resigned from co-hosting Sunrise 'to step out of this public world for a while' after marrying businessman Richard Lavender, 60.