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Updated July 31, 2026 \u2014 3:46pm,first published 2:41pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Kyle Sandilands has quit Australian Idol, telling the Seven Network on Friday morning that he wanted to insulate the show from an oncoming campaign by activist group the Mad F—ing Witches, this masthead can reveal.<\/p>\n \u201cI spoke with Channel Seven this morning, and those activists have attacked the potential clients for Australian Idol or the clients from last year, and [that] has caused a problem in Channel Seven\u2019s sales team,\u201d Sandilands told this masthead on Friday, as part of a forthcoming interview.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I\u2019ve told Channel Seven this morning, just prior to speaking to you, that I\u2019m standing down from Idol for the good of the brand to continue,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sandilands was part of the show\u2019s relaunch on Network Seven in 2023, and currently appears alongside fellow judges Marcia Hines and Amy Shark.<\/p>\n The show\u2019s 11th season aired its finale in April, and Sandilands said he will not be renewing his one-year contract in September.<\/p>\n Seven\u2019s director of content, unscripted, Majella Hay, confirmed the network was looking for a new judge for Australian Idol.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had an amazing four seasons with Kyle and have loved everything he\u2019s brought to Idol. We wish him well and can\u2019t wait to see what he accomplishes with his new project,\u201d Hay said.<\/p>\n \u201cKyle is a one-off individual talent. I won\u2019t say we are looking for a replacement, because no one can replace Kyle. But we are now looking for a new judge who brings their own unique energy to Australian Idol.\u201d<\/p>\n Sandilands will launch his own new paid subscription platform in mid-August, after settling his unfair dismissal case against ARN out of court last month, having been sacked earlier this year over his alleged behaviour toward his longtime co-host Jackie \u201cO\u201d Henderson.<\/p>\n ARN remains locked in a legal battle with Henderson, who launched an $82 million wrongful dismissal case against her former employer.<\/p>\n After suing ARN for $85 million, Sandilands ultimately settled his case for more than $12 million, enabling him to launch his own show, Kyle Sandilands Live. The show will cost subscribers $99 per year. The appointment of several staff who will work on the show, including some former KIIS employees, was announced last week.<\/p>\n As part of Sandilands\u2019 settlement with ARN, the company will provide his new venture with an additional $1.5 million worth of advertising services on its partner platforms over three years, while receiving 19.9 per cent of any revenue it generates.<\/p>\n Sandilands\u2019 former radio show, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, has also been targeted by the activist group Mad F—ing Witches before the program was sensationally scrapped earlier this year.<\/p>\n The pressure from the activist group, which puts pressure on advertisers to pull their spending, came as the show also performed poorly in the Melbourne market where it had hoped to expand.<\/p>\n The Market Recap newsletter is a wrap of the day\u2019s trading. Get it each weekday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Kyle](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/dc63225d8bb80457ddd4fd149a09ddc66cb05bb8.png\")
Kyle Sandilands has quit Australian Idol.Channel Seven<\/p>\n![\"Calum](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768879812_762_ed13c528ff29429d0a4267821595c52ca2cdc4cc.png\")
Calum Jaspan<\/a> is a media writer for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in Melbourne. Reach him securely on Signal @calumjaspan.10Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 31, 2026 \u2014 3:46pm,first published 2:41pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[156,111,139,69,437],"class_list":["post-552564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}