Jackie O and ex husband Ugly Phil are working in the same Sydney radio office

Once the golden couple of Australian radio, former husband and wife Phil O’Neil and Jackie O have found themselves back in the same Sydney office again.

Having separated more than 20 years ago, former golden couple of Australian radio Phil O’Neil and Jackie O are back working out of the same Sydney office.

O’Neil, also known as Ugly Phil, landed a job on ARN’s WSFM 101.7 at the end of last year.

WSFM is the sister station to ARN’s KIIS 106.5, on which Jackie O co-hosts the market leading FM breakfast show with Kyle Sandilands.

“There is no problem at all there,” O’Neill told Confidential.

Jackie O as a judge on The Masked Singer.

WSFM radio host Phil O'Neil.

“It is funny because a lot of people say that but we worked together 20 years ago. It was a long time ago. We are still mates, nothing has changed.”

Expat Brit O’Neil returned to Australia last year after a stint working in the UK for stations Planet Rock and Fix Radio.

He and partner Samantha had intended on staying longer but with COVID crippling the industry decided to return home after just over a year on ground.

“It was been a while but not as long as we’d hoped obviously,” the broadcaster said.

O’Neil and Jackie O hosted the Hot30 Countdown back in the 1990s. The pair first met when at the age of 18 in 1993, Jackie O called the Gold Coast radio station O’Neill was working for to win a competition.

Ugly Phil and Jackie O in the 1990s.

They wed a year later but the relationship ended in 1999. He has travelled back and forth between Australia and the UK for different jobs since.

His four hour WSFM shift starts at 9am while Jackie O is on air from 6am to 9am.

“I’m at that stage now where I thought, this is where I will be for some time so hopefully they let me stay here for a long time,” he said of taking the WSFM job. “I think all of my wanderlust and sort of bohemian lifestyle is behind me now.”

As for his radio moniker, O’Neil said it had taken years for the name Ugly Phil to stick.

“It is funny because I spoke to somebody, who said, ‘that Ugly Phil thing is sort of becoming a bit old now’. And then somebody else said to me, ‘well, you’ve spent like 30 years building a brand and why would you want to discard that?”

Originally published as Jackie O and ex husband Ugly Phil are working in the same Sydney radio office