Kyle Sandilands has been missing from his TV night job in recent weeks, fuelling speculation about his future on the Australian Idol judges\u2019 panel after being stood down by his ARN radio bosses.<\/p>\n
His absences across five episodes over the auditions, top 30 and top 21 selections have been left mysteriously unexplained.<\/p>\n
The show\u2019s hosts Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie briefly mentioned Sandilands was out of action to contestants during the third episode.<\/p>\n
Yet he did appear briefly at the end of that episode conducting an offsite audition which had clearly been filmed at another time. <\/p>\n
The straight-talking judge wasn\u2019t sitting alongside fellow \u201cmentors\u201d Marcia Hines and Amy Shark for any of this week\u2019s episodes.<\/p>\n
And there was zero acknowledgment of his Idol truancy as beloved 2006 runner-up Jessica Mauboy filled Sandilands\u2019 empty seat. <\/p>\n
It is believed the \u201clive\u201d performance shows to decide the top 21 on Monday and Tuesday this week were filmed in a block on the evening of January 20, the day Sandilands ripped into his co-host Jackie Henderson as she attempted to speak about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor\u2019s astrological chart.<\/p>\n
TV Tonight media commentator David Knox said Seven\u2019s lack of clarity around Sandilands was \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cKyle\u2019s absences on screen haven\u2019t been adequately explained to audiences which is disappointing,\u201d Knox said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis comes at a time when the remaining judges tell crook singers they must push through illness, reminiscent of the old adage that \u2018the show must go on.\u2019 Unless you\u2019re Kyle it seems.<\/p>\n
\u201cTwo of those shoot days were split across four episodes, exacerbating his absence, but thank goodness for Jess Mauboy, cheerfully on hand with her own Idol experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Seven\u2019s spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment on Sandilands\u2019 absences, or his future on Idol in the wake of him being dropped from his radio show for his controversial blow-up at Henderson.<\/p>\n
There have been whispers behind the scenes at Idol that Mauboy\u2019s seat-warming stints have been a \u201ctrial\u201d for a more regular role.<\/p>\n
It is believed Seven is yet to have any formal discussions about Sandilands\u2019 future on this season of Idol, and Mauboy is happy to drop in now and again as part of the \u201cIdol family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kyle and Jackie O regular radio guest Guy Sebastian is another obvious candidate to take over any sudden judge vacancy.<\/p>\n
And his former co-star Harry Connick Jr, who Sandilands did not enjoy working with, is often in Australia visiting his daughters who live here so could also slot into the role.<\/p>\n
Sandilands, who is cast as a much nicer version of his radio persona on Idol, is believed to have filmed for the show recently and may appear in episodes to air next week.<\/p>\n
If ARN was to tear up his contract after the 14-day window for him to \u201cremedy the breach\u201d of his \u201cact of serious misconduct\u201d, could Seven\u2019s new owners Southern Cross Media pick him back up again?<\/p>\n
It would be a big call to keep him on Idol and return him to the very airwaves – now rebranded as the Hit network but formerly 2DAY – he and Jackie O left for rival KIIS in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Southern Cross Media, Kyle\u2019s former employer, now owning Seven it\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess how things will play out long term,\u201d Know said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I would expect an Idol panel to include a mix of judges. It\u2019s a better look as well as drawing upon different industry expectations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s kids, some of whom have some very promising vocal skills, are certainly getting a front-row seat to how showbiz is really made.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kyle Sandilands has been missing from his TV night job in recent weeks, fuelling speculation about his future…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[64,63,447,259076,88286,134,259075,91626,259079,259087,259074,257948,46115,259077,259085,53493,259080,259082,259084,259090,259078,33183,259088,259089,259081,230769,259086,259073,259083],"class_list":{"0":"post-518791","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-david-knox","12":"tag-duke-of-york","13":"tag-entertainment","14":"tag-formal-discussions","15":"tag-guy-sebastian","16":"tag-hines","17":"tag-idol-family","18":"tag-industry-expectations","19":"tag-jackie-henderson","20":"tag-jessica-mauboy","21":"tag-judge-vacancy","22":"tag-kathy-mccabe","23":"tag-kyle-sandilands","24":"tag-marcia","25":"tag-media-commentator","26":"tag-night-job","27":"tag-obvious-candidate","28":"tag-offsite-audition","29":"tag-prince-andrew","30":"tag-regular-radio","31":"tag-regular-role","32":"tag-remaining-judges-tell","33":"tag-ricki-lee-coulter","34":"tag-scott-tweedie","35":"tag-seat-warming-stints","36":"tag-tell-crook-singers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}