Hamish Blake has weighed in on one of the most shocking splits in Australian radio history, that of former on-air partners Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson.
Blake, 44, has been nurturing his own long-time radio partnership with fellow comedian and friend Andy Lee, and spoke about his experiences with Mark Bouris on the businessman’s Straight Talk podcast.
When asked by Bouris about his reaction to Kyle and Jackie O’s sensational public split, Blake solemnly remarked, “That’s sad, because no one ever wants it to end.
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“It’s really fun doing things when you find that special person.”
He then spoke about his own experience navigating his professional relationship with Lee in the public eye.
“You always are aware that we’re going to have extra pressures on us because our relationship’s in the open.
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“When you’re on radio, every day you’re on air, you don’t know what you’re going to say every day. No one does, because there’s too much talking… You never know what you’re going to say,” he explained.
“So, it’s a huge trust exercise with the person you’re on air with. And it’s ‘the dance’ – and anyone in radio knows this dance, whether it’s two people, four people, five people.
“You’re all, every day, trying to create something out of nothing with each other and you’re taking tons and tons of risks thousands of times a day to just see how it goes with each other.
“Because [you’re] throwing something out there about the other person, about yourself, and you’re always seeing how each other responds.
“And so, anyone that does that dance has to be really skilled at it.”
He commended the radio duo for their decades-long run and skill.
“Kyle and Jackie, they’ve been around for 24 years,” he said, adding that they’re “unbelievably skilled and experienced people”, and “are crazily successful because of their skill, because of their talent as broadcasters”.
But he says that anyone in a partnership is always “so aware” that it must come to an end.
Blake then shared how he and Lee, 44, make sure that they don’t reach that point with ill will.
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“We don’t want this to end. And that’s why we check in and we’re like, ‘Are you still having fun? Are you still having fun?’ And we’ve always checked in along our career,” he shared.
The pair have experimented with their careers, not only dominating radio but also TV, social media, on-stage, and more. They would take time to do it both together and apart, which Blake says has seen their partnership flourish.
“We’ve always ebbed and flowed,” he reflected.
“But all those changes, I would say, have happened because pre-emptively we’ve gone, ‘Hey, before it gets too much, before this burns us out, I can feel it coming. Not now, but maybe in a year. How would you feel about… [stepping] back from the drive show? Could we do something different?’
“And that’s probably one of the things I’m most grateful for.”
Kyle and Jackie O’s conflict sprouted on February 20, 2026, when Sandilands told Henderson on-air she was “off with the fairies” and that her fixation on astrology had made her “unworkable”.
Henderson tearfully left the conversation and didn’t return to airwaves. On March 3, ARN said Henderson confirmed she could “no longer work” with Sandilands and her contract was terminated shortly after.
Sandilands, meanwhile, was given 14 days to remedy the “breach of conduct”, which he now claims in the court documents was impossible to do.
The former co-hosts have gone to court, with Sandilands filing an application on Tuesday 7 April to the Federal Court of Australia against KIIS FM licensee Commonwealth Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), which was released by the courts and seen by nine.com.au.
Sandilands’ counsel claim he suffered ”humiliation and loss of reputation” at the suggestion his conduct during an on-air row with co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson on February 20 would result in the termination of his $100 million contract.
Meanwhile, Henderson has filed a statement of claim on March 30, in which she says she was unfairly terminated.
In it, she claimed she asked Australian Radio Network (ARN) to step in and put a stop to Sandilands’ behaviour towards her six months before the on-air argument that ended their careers.
The court documents, seen by nine.com.au, show Henderson complained about Sandilands after an incident back in August 2025, when she accused him of berating her during their popular show and said she was on “period time”.
After the August incident, Henderson demanded the chairman and chief executive of ARN, which owns KIIS FM, intervene to stop Sandilands treating her as if they were in an “abusive relationship”, the court documents allege.
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