The Kyle and Jackie O show has collapsed amid a high-profile feud between hosts Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Kyle Sandilands.
KIIS FM’s parent company ARN announced on Tuesday that Henderson’s $100 million contract has been terminated after she told executives she ‘cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands’ any longer.
Sandilands has been suspended and given 14 days to ‘remedy’ the breach, or else faces termination.
ARN provided written notice to Sandilands stating that it considers his behaviour during the show on February 20 ‘an act of serious misconduct which is in breach of ARN’s services agreement with Quasar Media’.
The KIIS breakfast show will be taken off-air immediately, with ‘interim arrangements made for the show’.
Daily Mail has reached out to Henderson and Sandilands for comment.
The Kyle and Jackie O show has collapsed amid a high-profile feud between hosts Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Kyle Sandilands. Both pictured
Sandilands and Henderson signed a 10-year deal with Australian Radio Network (ARN) in 2023, and have eight years left on the contract.
They were paid a reported $200 million in that landmark negotiation and earned approximately $47,000 per episode.
Henderson, 51, has been AWOL from the Kyle & Jackie O show since Friday, 20 February, after she was involved in a fiery on-air clash with Sandilands over her alleged lack of ‘focus’ in her work.
Henderson took a leave of absence following the altercation, and was expected to return to the show on March 2.
During the on-air feud, Henderson broke down in tears when the pair were discussing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Sandilands got angry at her when she proceeded to read out the disgraced royal’s birth chart.
He lambasted his co-star, claiming that her love for astrology was affecting her work.
When Henderson attempted to defend herself and accused him of launching an attack on her, he stated he was only expressing the ‘facts’.
KIIS FM’s parent company ARN announced on Tuesday that Henderson’s $100 million contract has been terminated after she told executives she ‘cannot continue to work with Mr Kyle Sandilands’ any longer
An emotional Henderson said she was deeply ‘offended’ by his brutal comments during the clash.
On Monday, it was announced that her return to the airwaves has been pushed back another week.
Sandilands, 54, started Tuesday’s show by revealing that Henderson would return to the airwaves ‘at some stage’ – however, that was not to be.
Last Wednesday, Sandilands admitted he wished he had handled things differently.
‘I obviously upset her. Maybe, in hindsight, I shouldn’t have said it on the air. But we say a lot of things on the air here,’ he said.
‘It was never meant to hurt her feelings and obviously it did. I regret hurting her feelings. No one wants to hurt someone. Especially someone you care for.
‘I don’t really know. The show is just ploughing ahead anyway. I’m just leaving this up to management,’ he added.
Sandilands went on to say he just wanted to be back on the air with everyone happy, adding: ‘I want her to be happy and enjoy it. I also want the same thing.’
Sandilands has been suspended and given 14 days to ‘remedy’ the breach, or else faces termination. Jackie was pictured looking tense as she ran errands in Clovelly last week
He then joked he didn’t care if any of the other producers or staff members were happy because he would ‘swap them all out in a heartbeat’ for his co-star.
The next day, he dismissed reports his long-running radio show was coming to an end after he was absent from the show.
Speaking on Friday’s broadcast, he addressed headlines suggesting he had been pulled from the airwaves, insisting his absence was simply due to a sick day.
The presenter explained he had been up through the night caring for his unwell baby.
‘I haven’t vanished, everyone,’ he said at the start of the show.
‘According to the newspapers, The Kyle & Jackie O show was over, and I vanished. It just goes to show you can never believe what you read in any of the newspapers.
‘I feel they may have had their phones cut off; no one even rang to check.’
Sandilands said his three-year-old son Otto had been coughing throughout the night.
The renowned radio hosts first teamed up back in 2000 as co-hosts of the Hot30 Countdown on 2Day FM. Pictured in 2001
While Henderson’s walk-out came as a shock to many, some industry insiders said it was a long time coming.
Craig Bruce, who was program director at 2DayFM during Kyle and Jackie’s reign at the station, told 10 NEWS+ on Monday that the show was likely over.
‘I think that they’re drifting apart. It’s kind of understandable. They have been together now for close to 27 years,’ Bruce said.
‘So they have spent half their lives in a small room together.’
Asked if this rift was ‘the beginning of the end’, Bruce said he felt it was.
Similarly, entertainment journalist Peter Ford claimed on Monday that it was likely that the duo’s contract would be ‘ripped up and binned’.
He doubled down on his assertions on Tuesday’s Sunrise, claiming that Henderson had ‘sought legal advice’ to weigh up her options.
‘I’m hearing Jackie O feels she has to take a stand here and she has to do it to show that you do not have to be demeaned and belittled in your workplace as she was on that particular day when Kyle gave her that dressing down,’ he said.
Sandilands and Henderson signed a 10-year deal with Australian Radio Network (ARN) in 2023, and have eight years left on the contract . They were paid a reported $200 million
‘I think Jackie wants to take a stand to show her daughter, Kitty, that you don’t have to put up with it.’
The claims surrounding the most recent on-air clash gain further credence from leaked audio, which emerged last year, featuring another fiery exchange between the pair in an unaired segment.
In the recording, Sandilands is heard goading Henderson about being ‘off with the fairies’ and taking calls instead of working.
‘There’s a lot you don’t remember. Are you sure that you’re the full quid?’ Sandilands said.
‘I don’t know if you are. Remember the other day when I said something about being on the phone and you said no I haven’t? We all laughed because nearly every break you were on the phone, but you genuinely thought that you weren’t.’
Henderson snapped back: ‘That actually annoys me, that you did that, because I was on the phone – I was researching stuff to do with the segment that was coming up and I specifically remember that you guys were like, ‘pay attention to do some work’.
‘And I was like hang on a sec. I was actually doing work on the phone.’
The tit-for-tat continued until Henderson finally had enough.
‘Okay I’m going!’ she raged.
Henderson, 51, has been AWOL from the Kyle & Jackie O show since Friday, 20 February, after she was involved in a fiery on-air clash with Sandilands over her alleged lack of ‘focus’
‘I’m constantly getting f***ing gaslit around here!’ she added, storming off.
‘Can’t mention anything to you ever. Can you believe it?’ Sandilands said as she left.
Henderson also stormed out of the studio in September last year after the pair clashed during an ad break.
Sandilands revealed the argument had sparked when Henderson accused him of not being interested in what she was discussing.
‘Any relationship is not always smooth sailing. She cracked the s***s and left, but fear not, this show will not miss a beat,’ he said.
He then explained why his co-star stormed off and told him she ‘wasn’t coming back’.
‘It was because I wasn’t buying into what she was saying, she accused me of not being interested in what she was talking about,’ he said.
It seems that leaving her popular KIIS breakfast show had been on Henderson’s mind for a while.
The Kyle and Jackie O Show kicked off on on 2Day FM in 2004 and lasted a decade, before the radio duo made the jump to KIIS FM in 2014. Pictured in 2006
In July last year, she revealed plans to step away from the mic for good after her 10-year contract wraps up.
She detailed her plans on-air after Sandilands revealed his desire to live in a French chateau.
‘That’s my plan, at the end of the 10 years to go to Italy and live there for six months every year,’ she said.
When Sandilands asked: ‘So, what you’re saying after this 10-year deal’s up that’s it for you?’ Henderson replied with a succinct: ‘Yep.’
Henderson also inadvertently telegraphed her current clash with Sandilands in an interview with T Australia in October.
‘Kyle and I have been going head to head a little bit lately, so I will certainly speak up if I don’t agree with what he’s saying,’ she told the publication.
The renowned radio hosts first teamed up back in 2000 as co-hosts of the Hot30 Countdown on 2Day FM.
The Kyle and Jackie O Show kicked off on on 2Day FM in 2004 and lasted a decade, before the radio duo made the jump to KIIS FM in 2014.
