Move over Mike Tyson and Jake Paul. There’s another ferocious feud between giants to be obsessed with, and that’s the one between radio hosts Kyle Sandilands and Sammy J.
Kyle Sandilands has been increasingly under fire lately over the lacklustre Melbourne ratings of his breakfast program Kyle & Jackie O, after the show began airing in Melbourne this year.
Whether it’s a result of “revolting” content, or the fact that he and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson infamously replaced the former KIIS FM hosts in an on-air announcement, it seems like Melbourne listeners just aren’t biting at what Sandilands is offering.
Meanwhile, as host of ABC Melbourne Breakfast for the last five years, comedian Sammy J has been able to boost the ABC’s ratings in the city, and has continuously beaten Kyle & Jackie O on the leaderboard.
So last week when Sammy announced he would be stepping back from the airwaves, he took the opportunity to prod the bear and initiated a one-way-feud against Sandilands.
In a playful post to social media, the comedian made a cheeky jab at the fact that he “beat Kyle again” on his final day of ratings.
“I’ll forever live rent-free in his head,” Sammy teased.
“I’m his white whale; his tormentor; the last face he sees at night and first face he sees each morning.”
I beat Kyle again in my final ratings today. So I’ll forever live rent free in his head. I’m his white whale; his tormentor; the last face he sees at night and first face he sees each morning. When he strolls on the beach at night, the wind will whisper “Sammy J”. pic.twitter.com/tdDnujoOyn
— Sammy J (@sammyjcomedian) November 14, 2024
When asked by PEDESTRIAN.TV why he chose to target Sandilands at this moment, Sammy explained he was simply “stating the truth”.
“He will never beat me. I won. He lost,” the Wednesday Night Fever host said.
“He has to keep getting up at 4am. I don’t. These are the facts.”
This throwing down of the proverbial gauntlet was not received in jest by Sandilands, who the next morning on Kyle & Jackie O belittled Sammy J and claimed he has “never heard of him”. You tell yourself that, Kyle.
“There’s some guy at the ABC in Melbourne who quit, but he was saying some weird shit like: ‘I beat Kyle Sandilands,’ and: ‘I’m the first thing he thinks about,’” Sandilands said.
“I have never even heard of him and he thinks that he is in my mind. What a deluded flog. I don’t know who you are dog… Bro no one knows who you are.”
When Jackie O posed to her cohost that the comedian may have been joking, Sandilands doubled down: “Jackie, he’s from the ABC. They don’t joke.”
So was Sammy J, the writer, broadcaster, satirist, and member of a man-puppet-comedy duo, joking?
“This is not a laughing matter,” he told PEDESTRIAN.TV.
As for what it’s like to live in the mind of one of the least popular broadcasters, the outgoing ABC host said it’s more Kyle’s problem than his.
“I haven’t really thought about it. He’s the one obsessed with me,” Sammy said.
He then responded to the fact that Kyle had called him a “dog” and a “deluded flog”, by pointing out that whatever Kyle calls him doesn’t matter, because Sandilands is still the one who had inferior ratings.
“It must be painful. Like it’s bad enough to be beaten by a dog, or a flog, or somebody with delusions,” said Sammy.
“But to be beaten by all three at once? How humiliating.”
The ball’s in your court, Kyle.
Lead Image: Instagram
