2GB Breakfast host Ben Fordham has weighed into the escalating fallout between Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, declaring the shock jock made a critical error by airing his frustrations with his longtime co-host live on radio.
Speaking on the Behind the Mic with Mike E podcast, Fordham told host Michael Etheridge the moment that triggered the crisis inside ARN’s biggest radio show should never have played out in public.
“It shouldn’t have happened on air. It should not have happened on air. If Kyle had said to Jackie off air, ‘Babe, your interest in astrology is driving me nuts’, I reckon Jackie probably would have said ‘oh right’.”
The comments follow a dramatic on-air clash last month during which Henderson, 51, was left in tears after Sandilands accused her of letting her interest in astrology interfere with her work.
During the broadcast, Sandilands lashed out: “It’s affecting other things, like your fixation on this has made you almost unworkable. You’re off with the fairies with this s***. It’s mental.”
Ben Fordham and Michael Etheridge. Source: Supplied
‘He just steamrolled over the top of her’
Fordham said the issue itself was not the real problem; it was the way it unfolded.
“She’s not a difficult person to work with. But it’s the way he did it. Listening to that 13 minutes of audio, she was begging him to stop – saying ‘this isn’t fair, I would never do this to you’ – and he was already so far into it that he just steamrolled over the top of her. That’s where the mistake was made.”
Fordham also addressed the saga on his own top-rated 2GB Breakfast program, telling listeners Sandilands now appears to be fighting to keep his role.
“He knows he’s cooked, so he’s fighting for his job, hoping he can whip up support from listeners and the public,” Fordham said, referring to a WhatsApp message he sent to his team after Sandilands released a public statement defending himself.
The 49-year-old radio host then offered a blunt prediction about what lies ahead for the once-dominant KIIS FM duo.
“My gut tells me the Kyle and Jackie O show is finished on ARN,” he said.
“I think Jackie will be offered another role, Kyle probably not.”
Fordham went on to tell Etheridge that the network faces a difficult commercial and legal calculation if the standoff escalates.
“Lawyers will have to decide if they’re confident they can beat him in an unfair dismissal case. And Kyle should feel confident he can win that case.”
He said ARN must now decide whether bringing Sandilands back risks further reputational damage – or whether the alternative could involve a costly legal battle.
“They’ve got to weigh up whether they invite him back and take another hit to revenue, or risk blowing potentially tens of millions of dollars on lawyers at an unfair dismissal payout.”
Despite Sandilands publicly stating that he wants to return to the microphone, Fordham doubts that will happen.
“Kyle is fighting to keep his job; he wants his job back. I don’t think he’s going to get it.”
Contract standoff brewing
The dispute intensified after ARN described Sandilands’ behaviour as “an act of serious misconduct”, suspending the star and giving him fourteen days to address what the network says is a breach of his contract.
In a statement released shortly after, Sandilands pushed back.
“I have a contract with ARN that runs until 2034. I am committed to that contract. Despite what ARN says, I am not in breach of that contract.”
A ratings rivalry – and a long memory
Fordham has long been one of Sandilands’ fiercest radio competitors, regularly battling the KIIS FM juggernaut in the Sydney breakfast ratings.
He believes ARN’s decision to expand the show into Melbourne may have ultimately weakened its Sydney dominance.
“When you’re focusing on Melbourne, that means you’re taking the eye off the ball in Sydney, and that’s probably partly why we beat them seven out of eight surveys last year.”
Fordham also suggested the program had lost some of the spark that once made it such a ratings force.
“When you throw enough cash in front of people’s faces, their vision can be blurred. They can’t see what the rest of us can see.”
The rivalry between the two broadcasters stretches back years. In 2021, Fordham jokingly announced on air that it was Sandilands’ 60th birthday, not his actual 50th.
Sandilands later fired back during a ratings victory in 2023.
“If you want to know what happened to Ben Fordham, he is underneath us,” Sandilands said at the time.
“It’s like having sex with someone, and they die. That’s Ben. Ben is the dead person.”
‘The biggest court case of 2026’
Fordham believes the dispute could soon move from the airwaves to the courtroom.
“Oh, it’s going to court, I mean, this will be the biggest court case of 2026. If you have a look back over recent years, we’ve had Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann, Ben Roberts-Smith, Antoinette Lattouf and the ABC. This is the biggest court case of 2026. Who the players are in court, I don’t know. Will it be Kyle? Will it be Jackie? Will it be both? It’s going to be fascinating to watch.”