Today show's Georgie Gardner and Deb Knight respond to backlash against the new panel.

Georgie Gardner and Deborah Knight have addressed the “scrutiny” of their first week debuting the Today show’s new format.

The co-hosts spoke of the “tricky” transition, and also the negative comments they’d received while chatting to Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson on KIIS FM on Tuesday.

Deb replaced Karl Stefanovic, who departed the show shortly after his wedding last month, and suspected Australians were still getting used to the concept of two women hosting.

View this post on Instagram

We’ve arrived in Melbourne and are ready to take on the Australian Open! Make sure you’re watching from 5.30am TOMORROW to catch all the action, it’s going to be ace! (????: The Age) #9Today

A post shared by thetodayshow (@thetodayshow) on Jan 12, 2019 at 9:54pm PST

“It’s a new format for the Australian market, so it’s new and it’s been getting a lot of attention. But it’s the best people for the job, regardless of your gender,” she said.

“We play to our strengths — we’re both very different people and we’re finding our banter as a duo… but it’s exciting.”

Georgie said she could feel how heavily the show was being scrutinised, but she knew they’d gotten the content right.

“You just can’t hide in TV. Every look, every expression, every side glance is analysed and scrutinised. Often the analysis of it is quite wrong, by the way,” she said.

Deb, meanwhile, considered the assessment of the show from some critics to be unfair.

“We were written off in the first half-hour of the show. This commentary was coming through. Usually, when you review a show, you wait for it to finish,” she said.

Haven’t caught the new line-up yet? Here’s what the Today show looks like now:

As for viewers feedback, Georgie and Deb had read out, and laughed at, some of the nastier messages on Friday’s show.

On radio Georgie compared some of the critics with personal attacks to bullies, who feel ” a bit flat” so will “drag someone else down”.

“We take it all in our stride and we do the best we can,” she said.

The radio hosts then asked the pair about Karl Stefanovic, and both confirmed he was doing well.

“Yeah I have; he’s a great mate of mine. He wished me all the best, and I did to him as well,” Deb said.

“I agree, he’s in a good place,” Georgie added. “He sent me a lovely message on day one last week, and I think the next chapter for him is going to be super exciting.”

Kyle wanted to test this of course and tried calling Karl on air – who didn’t answer.

Got January-Dread at the thought of a new year in your current job? Keen to take control of your life and be your own boss? Come and join Mia Freedman for the Lady Startup Activation Plan, an online course where she personally takes you through every step and gives you every resource to go from idea to launch. Enrolments are open for just a few days. Details here.