Kyle Sandilands whether he will be returning to Australian Idol and the huge international star who almost joined the judging panel

EXCLUSIVE Kyle Sandilands whether he will be returning to Australian Idol and the huge international star who almost joined the judging panel By ALI DAHER FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 01:46, 6 April 2025 | Updated: 01:46, 6 April 2025 e-mail View comments Kyle Sandilands has spilled major secrets from behind the scenes of Australian Idol ahead of Sunday night's finale. Lifting the lid on the show, Kyle addressed the judging shake-up and revealed what's in store for the Channel Seven talent program in 2025. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the shock jock, 53, confirmed that Idol has already been locked in for another season, with producers wasting no time securing the returning judges – and Kyle says he was one of the first to know.

'They've already booked in the dates, I think, for next year. So Marcia says to me on the desk, last Monday night, she goes, "did they tell you about the new dates?" And I went, "of course, they f**king told me about the new dates a month ago".' Sandilands, who first joined Australian Idol in the early 2000s, claims this new era of the show is only thriving because he had a say in who came back – and who didn't.



'Where's Harry Connick, Jr? Not here. Amy [Shark]'s here now. Marcia's here now,' he said.

Kyle Sandilands has spilled major secrets from behind the scenes of Australian Idol ahead of Sunday night's finale Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the shock jock, 53, confirmed that Idol has already been locked in for another season, with producers wasting no time securing the returning judges – and Kyle says he was one of the first to know (Pictured alongside Marcia Hines and Amy Shark) 'When we put this together, Channel Seven CEO Jeff Howard came and met me. We had lunch and I knew that he was like romancing me to come back to TV, but I was done with TV. 'Then he said, "I want you to come back to TV.

" And I said, "I'm not really interested." And he said, "what if we bring back Idol?" And I said "oh. Very interested only in Idol".

' Kyle also said the original judging panel nearly looked very different. He revealed the 2023 Australian Idol panel was set to feature an international star-studded affair – until plans fell through. Harry Connick Jr.

was brought in to fill the spot, but Kyle said he always felt the show needed to be homegrown. 'It was gonna be me, Amy Shark, Meghan Trainor and Snoop Dogg. But Snoop was having some visa issues, then we nearly got 50 Cent, but he's got film companies and stuff now so we couldn't marry up the time.

' The controversial host also addressed Australian Idol's ratings battle with Channel Nine's Married At First Sight and why he's not been talking about the Channel Nine show on The Kyle & Jackie O Show. 'We talked about MAFS probably five years ago. I'm just not as into it.

I know it's still quite popular. Still though it [always] wins the night,' he admitted. Sandilands, who first joined Australian Idol in the early 2000s, says this new era of the show is only thriving because he had a say in who came back – and who didn't 'Yeah, of course.

Where's Harry Connick, Jr? Not here. Amy [Shark]'s here now. 'Marcia's here now,' he said 'I even brought it up with Channel Seven.

I was like, "why would you put it up against Channel Nine's biggest show?" And they said, "We're not gonna just surrender and put episodes of Gilligan's Island on we still need to have a sexy current cool product for their advertisers." 'A lot of people don't want to advertise in MAFS because of the style of content of show.' On ratings, rival networks and future plans Kyle also took aim at the media's obsession with radio ratings after KIIS FM's recent Melbourne numbers.

'I didn't celebrate it. I thought it was f**ked,' he said bluntly. 'This is what people don't really understand about ratings.

It's out of the five and a half million people in Melbourne, only 18,000 have even been asked to fill in a diary.' He also slammed reports he and co-host Jackie 'O' Henderson's rumoured salary increase was responsible for presenter Mitch Churi's departure. 'I had nothing to do with Mitch getting fired.

...

I don't know if it's completely true, but it probably is, it was just [his] negotiation style that didn't work.' Kyle insisted he doesn't let competition get in the way of his friendship – revealing he'll be catching up with former colleague Jason Hawkins (pictured with co-host Lauren Phillips) over dinner next week Read More EXCLUSIVE Kyle Sandilands comes clean about his drug use following his brain aneurysm diagnosis, his future on Australian Idol and his shock secret friendship with a supposed 'enemy' Looking to the future, Kyle admitted he'd like to expand into Brisbane but isn't in any rush. 'I've made my intentions clear that I do want Brisbane as well, but while Brisbane still does well, they went down a little bit, but there's still got healthy numbers.

' When it comes to rival presenters, Kyle insisted he doesn't let competition get in the way of friendship – revealing he'll be catching up with former colleague Jason Hawkins over dinner next week. 'I found him when he was like a 16-year-old kid. He used to be my little b**ch at Triple M in Brisbane,' he joked.

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