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Radio star Kyle Sandilands has given a candid update as the fallout from his on-air spat with co-host Jackie “O” Henderson continues.
Listeners were shocked when the pair had a heated argument on the February 20 episode of the Kyle and Jackie O Show – after Kyle slammed Jackie over her “fixation” with star charts.
The incident, which left Jackie “offended”, led her to step away from the radio show for several days to “gather her thoughts”.
Kyle went on to present solo with input from newsreader Brooklyn Ross.
On day three of Jackie’s absence, Kyle shared an update with listeners, confirming his co-host would be “off for the week”.
The Australian Idol judge also reflected on his behaviour publicly for the first time.
“I got a text message yesterday from Marcia Hynes, my other work wife at the TV, and she’s like ‘what’s going on with Jackie?’. I left it for a while…” Kyle shared.
“I got a bit of a blasting from my wife. She’s being supportive but she’s also very honest with me, and she goes ‘well from time to time you do say things at home that don’t land well either’.”
“And she’s right. I think I said to my wife, ‘the friendship between Jackie and I has been over 27 years, we’re very honest with each other’, and sometimes when I think about it in hindsight I probably should have said my words to her off the air. But sometimes this show’s just so free-flowing, and honest.”
Kyle then went on to discuss speculation that the fallout between he and Jackie was contrived.
“Marcia said ‘there’s a lot of comments out there saying that it’s a publicity stunt’. I was like ‘no, we don’t put that much effort into anything’. We would never plan anything like that. That’s more of a… thing the other radio stations do,” Kyle explained, adding an acknowledgement that maybe he was “a little bit too blunt”.
“All any of us know is that she’s asked for the week off, and that’s within her rights to do. We forge along here.”
As Kyle was told of some of the headlines his spat with Jackie had generated, he reflected on their working relationship over the years.
“I know we’ve had a couple of little barneys, but overall I think it’s been a wonderful on-air and off-air relationship,” he said.
“I obviously upset her, and maybe in hindsight I shouldn’t have said it on the air but we say a lot of things on the air here. It’s never meant to hurt her feelings and obviously it did and I regret hurting her feelings. No one wants to hurt someone, especially someone you care for.”
He also admitted he was unsure about what would happen next.
“I don’t really know. The show’s just ploughing ahead anyway, so I’m just leaving this up to management,” the star said.
“I don’t know what the plan is here, or when it will be rectified or if it will be rectified.
” I hope it is. They asked me yesterday – management – ‘what do you want to do about it?’ I said, ‘the end result for me would be we’re back on air and everything’s happy. But I want her to be happy and enjoy it, and I also want the same thing’.”
What did Kyle Sandilands say to Jackie O?
Kyle and Jackie O’s fallout centred on a star chart reading Jackie was giving about disgraced royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor – discussing how it predicted his life unravelling.
Kyle was unimpressed by Jackie’s take, launching a spray in which he likened Jackie’s “fixation” with star charts to that of a “drug addict”.
“I don’t mean to be rude but… I don’t think it should be at the detriment of everything else on the show, this relentless research…” Kyle said.
“It’s affecting other things,” Kyle added. “Your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable.”
As the row continued, Jackie told Kyle to “get someone else” to work alongside him on the show.
Game Changers podcast co-host Craig Bruce told Mediaweek that the incident could mark a shift in the relationship between the long-time colleagues.
“We all need to remember that these guys have been together for over 25 years and that nothing lasts forever,” he said.
“In my experience with the show, their superpower was their connection with each other and their shared values and goals for the show. It sounds like that has maybe shifted a little in recent times.”
