‘The show will surge forward regardless of who’s here’: Sandilands addresses Jackie O bust-up

Nathan Jolly

March 3, 2026 10:48

‘The show will surge forward regardless of who’s here’: Sandilands addresses Jackie O bust-up

Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson eyeball Mumbrella during the ARN upfront (Mumbrella)

Kyle Sandilands has hit out at media reports that Jackie “O” Henderson will not be returning to the pair’s high-rating breakfast program, while also confirming that the show will continue regardless of whether she decides to leave.

Henderson has not been on the show since an on-air bust up during the February 20 program, where Sandilands accused her off being “unprofessional” and “off with the fairies”.

During Tuesday morning’s show, the seventh that Henderson has missed, Sandilands opened by sharing some “good news”.

“Anything that’s got my name on it, I have to sign off on it, so I signed off yesterday on some sort of statement coming from Jackie’s camp.

“The only thing I noticed is that Jackie will be returning in the future. So that’s a good sign; the intention is to come back, which is fabulous.”

Sandilands took aim at the reports surrounding the show’s future, claiming that media speculation has led to confusion among the show’s staff.

He also confirmed that the pair have separate contracts with ARN, meaning one of them could leave without it impacting the length or value of each of their $100m, ten-year deals, which stretch until the end of 2034.

“We had to have a meeting this morning with all the staff here because after reading all the lies and the opinions of all of these apparent experts, the staff here thought that their jobs were at risk because people are saying on TV shows and other radio stations we’re about to tear the contract up,” he said.

Kyle and Jackie O had what could be a multi-million-dollar falling out.

“Let me make one thing clear. Regardless of how this ends up, the show will surge forward regardless of who’s here and who’s not here.

“Jackie’s intention is to come back to the show, so the show’s not over, and regardless of what these experts say about the contract, Jackie’s contract and my contract are separate with the company, so therefore if I died right now, Jackie would continue on with the show.”

According to News Corp, Sandilands told reporters yesterday outside ARN’s studio in North Sydney that he hasn’t spoken to Henderson since the Friday February 20 show, and that he feels it was an “over-reaction” on her behalf.

Denying it was the end of the pair’s 22-year on-air relationship, he added: “I think that I’ve obviously hurt her feelings, but I think maybe something else is going on because it seems to be a bit of an over-reaction from just that. We’ve had worse barneys before.”

The February 20 fight, which was completely cut from the podcast version of the show, started after Henderson consulted an astrology star chart on her phone while on air.

Sandilands said Henderson’s “fixation” with star signs has made her “almost unworkable”, and that she was “off with the fairies” — to which she took great offense.

Jackie Henderson (Kiis)

“It’s too much,” Sandilands continued. “It’s affecting everything else. You’re too fixated on it. Every segment, every time you’ve spoken, you’re off with the — you don’t even know what’s going on.”

The argument lasted more than five minutes, including multiple interjections from team members. Sandilands said Henderson was “not doing the rest of the job and everyone in this building has mentioned it to me”.

“Everyone has said ‘What’s going on with Jackie? She’s off today.’ Everyone you can see has said something over the last month at some stage.”

Henderson was close to tears during the argument.

“I’m not tiptoeing through this for another couple of weeks,” Sandilands said. “It’s affecting the whole sound of the program.”

Henderson pointed out Sandilands’ actions also affect the show.

“As I said, this is constant,” he continued. “You don’t know what the fuck is going on all the time, because you’re looking at that phone, playing in the stars, and it’s ridiculous.

“You can enjoy that, but you can’t take over your whole life.”