Naga Munchetty has been accused of being “rude” to Carol Kirkwood on the BBC Breakfast star’s last day as a weather presenter.
Kirkwood, 63, bid farewell to the BBC show on Wednesday morning after almost three decades, prompting tributes from viewers and colleagues, including presenters Jon Kay and Sally Nugent.
Munchetty, 51, joined the hosts towards the end of the broadcast and deployed her typically jokey tone while saying goodbye to her longtime colleague.
Kirkwood appeared surprised that Munchetty was in the studio, saying: “Thank you all for coming - and even you, Nags!”
Munchetty - who was placed under review last year following complaints of bullying - said with a deadpan expression, “I’m just waiting for the countdown for you to go!” before bursting out laughing.
She then presented Kirkwood with a framed illustration by Mr Men artist Adam Hargreaves, portraying her as Little Miss Sunshine.
“I will treasure this!” Kirkwood replied, looking visibly emotionally.
She added, “It's going to have pride of place...” as Munchetty interrupted to ask: “In the toilet?”
Munchetty later grilled her co-star on whether she had ever nicked anything from the BBC set in all her years as weather presenter.
“You’ve not stolen anything from all the time at BBC Breakfast.” she asked, looking dubious.
Kirkwood insisted she hadn’t, before Nugent and Kay joked that she could take a BBC Breakfast mug on the table in front of her.
After a special weather-themed cake was brought over to Kirkwood, Munchetty quipped: “Are you going to break the habit of a lifetime and actually share the cake?”
Kirkwood replied: “No, Naga, absolutely not - why would I do that? and Munchetty responded: “Exactly. Why change it? We're only going to remember you one way.”
Mike Bushell and Matt Taylor, who will replace Kirkwood as weather presenter, then joined the sofa and paid tribute to the veteran presenter.
“She's exactly as you see on air, and all people ever go on about is... 'Where's Carol?' Every day somebody asks about Carol and that's because of the connection you've made with the audience,” Taylor said.
Munchetty asked, “Do you tell the truth when people ask about Carol?” and Taylor joked “Never!” laughing, before again praising his colleague.
The exchanges left viewers at home wondering if relations were secretly strained between the colleagues, with some pointing out that Munchetty failed to make a personal tribute to Kirkwood like her co-hosts.
“[Carol] seems artificially chirpy tbh. That Naga used to be quite rude to her and she just laughed. I’d have taken my mic off, gone over and lumped her one if I’d been Carol,” one fan wrote on X.
“Naga didn’t do a pre recorded solo tribute like the other newsreaders did who’ve worked with her for years. Instead she tried her usual gotcha tactics to embarrass Carol,” another added.
“Maybe Naga and Carol really didn't get on...” a third suggested.
Someone else wanted to know: “Where was Naga Munchetty’s tribute to Carol Kirkwood amongst all the others on her last day presenting the weather on BBC Breakfast? Conspicuous by her absence.”
Another viewer posted, “Carol saying goodbye to Naga,” alongside a GIF of an angry woman sticking up her middle finger.
“As ever, Naga tries to make it about her. She's not jealous AT ALL, that Carol is, and always will be, liked more than her,” yet another user claimed.
The Standard has contacted Munchetty’s representative for comment.
Munchetty presents the programme alongside Charlie Stayt every Thursday to Saturday, having joined the show in 2014.
Last year, she was accused of being “hard” and “bullying” her coworkers and came under fire for two alleged incidents over a three-year period, according to a number of sources.
She was accused of bullying a female colleague and making a “wildly unprofessional” off-air sex joke that left a co-worker “humiliated”.
The broadcaster will reportedly be allowed to remain at the BBC’s flagship morning show under strict conditions while an official investigation takes place.
