Controversial KIIS radio presenter Kyle Sandilands insists his co-host Jackie โOโ Henderson will return to their show after he berated her on air, but could not give a date for her comeback as her indefinite leave enters a second week.
Henderson took last week off after Sandilands berated her during a live broadcast on February 20, criticising her work ethic because she had looked into horoscopes during a discussion on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor which he said was part of a wider pattern.
โYouโre off with the fairies, you are unfocused, you donโt give a shit โฆ everyone in this building has mentioned it to me,โ Sandilands told Henderson during the show as she fought back tears.
Henderson was expected to return to the highest-paid radio show in the country on Monday, but Sandilands told listeners that she would not be on air for the second week in a row.
On Tuesday morning, Sandilands said Hendersonโs camp were preparing a statement that would say she was โreturning in the futureโ, though he did not give any further details about when that would be, or in what capacity.
Some senior industry figures have suggested Henderson may negotiate a return to the show in a reduced capacity.
The Kyle and Jackie O Show is only two months into the second year of a 10-year, $200 million contract on KIIS FM. It is by some distance the most lucrative contract in Australian media, and was designed to reflect the pairโs growing dominance in Sydney and planned expansion to other key metropolitan markets like Melbourne and Brisbane.
The show launched into Melbourne two years ago, but it has floundered in the city. In the breakfast slot, which traditionally demands more advertising revenue than any other time of day, KIIS has lost more than 220,000 listeners under Sandilands and Henderson, or 36 per cent of its audience.
Last year, KIISโs owner ARN was forced to rethink its approach to the national rollout, which was part of the contract the pair signed through to 2034. It has been forced to deploy additional censors on the show after breached industry codes relating to decency 12 times in 2025 alone by the industry regulator, the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
Its poor ratings have been compounded by a prolonged campaign by activist group Mad F—ing Witches, which has resulted in falling metro advertising revenue and lost ground to its main competitors, Nova and Southern Cross Austereo.
In Brisbane, the network brought back the previously dumped breakfast trio Robin, Kip & Corey for 2026, and it has also hired former Nova and triple j personalities Ben Harvey and Liam Stapleton to start in Adelaide next month. Sandilands and Henderson do not broadcast in those markets.
In the companyโs full-year results released last week, ARN said KIISโ performance was a major headwind, with โheightened advertiser sensitivity to brand safetyโ impacting revenue. ARNโs metro revenue across both of its networks, KIIS and Gold declined by 16 per cent, or $28.3 million.
Calum Jaspan is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X or email.
