‘Completely unaware’: Jackie O hits back at tabloid rumour

Radio host Jackie O hit back on-air today, after a recent media report claiming she “stole” her latest TV role from a much-loved Aussie actress.

Radio host Jackie O hit back on-air today after a recent media report claiming she “stole” her latest TV role from Home and Away actress Ada Nicodemou.

Radio stalwart Jackie O’s next television gig will see her narrate the upcoming Channel 7 dating show Stranded On Honeymoon Island.

A report in this week’s New Idea alleges that some expected the role to be given to soapie veteran Nicodemou, after she spruiked the show at Seven’s Upfronts last October, where the network teases its content slate for the next year.

“That was news to me – my mum sent it to me. I’m completely unaware of that story. And I actually don’t even know if they’ve got that story right, to be honest,” Jackie told co-host Kyle Sandilands on-air Tuesday morning.

Jackie O said that, as a popular Seven personality, Nicodemou had simply been on-hand at the Upfronts to announce the new dating show for the network’s 2024 schedule. She argued it would be a leap to then assume that meant the actress would then be narrating the series.

Jackie O on the radio.

Aussie soap favourite Ada Nicodemou. Picture: Don Arnold/WireImage

“Because she presented that, and she’s a Seven personality, [New Idea] assumed that she would then be hosting that show or narrating that show. That’s all they’ve got it from,” she said.

“And honestly, I don’t think they’ve got the story right at all. And if they do, I’m completely unaware of it.”

New Idea reported an unnamed “insider” as saying that “many eyebrows were raised” by Jackie O’s appointment.

“While there is little doubt Jackie is a perfect fit to narrate a show like this one, there is a feeling Seven should have looked internally to someone who has been loyal to the network, like a Home and Away star such as Ada or Emily Weir,” the anonymous source told the tabloid mag.

Where it all began: Jackie O judging the first season of Popstars back in 2000.

News.com.au has today contacted Seven for comment.

While she’s better known nowadays as a radio host, Jackie O has had an association with Seven over the years: The network gave her her first major TV role, as one of the judges of Popstars back in the early noughties, along with a role in the short-lived 2002 feel-good show Undercover Angels.

In more recent years, Jackie O served as a judge for the first three seasons of Ten’s The Masked Singer Australia. She left the show, which was recently axed by Ten after five seasons, in 2021.

Jackie O’s new show will see “hopeful singles” thrown into an extreme situation that’s part Married At First Sight, part Castaway: After a speed dating event, couples will be matched and marry – then stranded on a deserted island for three weeks in nothing but their wedding outfit.

Seven has not yet revealed an airdate for the new series.

Originally published as ‘Completely unaware’: Jackie O hits back at tabloid rumour