Why I really quit radio: Abbie Chatfield reveals the reason she had to step away

When Abbie Chatfield quit radio recently, she was braced for the rumour mill to blow up. To her surprise there was only one and she’s here to clear it up.

She overturned her “villain” edit on national television to become a sought-after “it” girl.

She didn’t hide from the public spray of hate but climbed above it to rewrite her narrative.

She took those “15 minutes” after being a contestant on The Bachelor Australia in 2019, and turned them into a small empire.

To appreciate all of this is to acknowledge the force that is Abbie Chatfield.

The divisive powerhouse, 28, has created a successful podcast, become a fashion designer, owner of a beer label, 2021 winner of I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, national radio presenter, TV host of dating show FBoy Island and is back for her second season as judge on popular singing contest The Masked Singer.

And nobody is more surprised than Chatfield at her emphatic arrival on to Australia’s entertainment scene.

Abbie Chatfield on life after radio, The Bachelor and burnout.

“I don’t know what it is, I think if I start questioning it, I’ll need therapy,” she says with a laugh.

“I do think about it and wonder why, it’s bizarre … I just think it’s happened, I accept it and move forward and I’m so grateful.

“Nothing is really planned and I’m grateful for everything I get. I think it’s timing and I guess luck, working hard and people are accepting.”

But what the personality isn’t surprised about anymore is what comes with her candour on the internet – the good, bad and the headlines.

The most recent of those headlines being when Chatfield, who grew up in Aspley in Brisbane’s north, announced last month she was quitting radio and would give up her daily national show of 18 months, Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield on the Hit network.

Abbie Chatfield addresses speculation she was fired from radio gig.

She was braced for the rumour mill to be set alight but to her surprise there was only one. And she’s here to clear it up.

“There were many comments saying I definitely got fired,” she laughs. “Which is not the case.

“I still work in the building (doing her podcast, It’s A Lot with Abbie Chatfield), I still have a desk so I didn’t get fired.

“I just didn’t want to do it anymore, it was very exhausting and emotionally draining and it wasn’t really for me.”

It was a decision months in the making with the load taking its toll.

“I couldn’t see my friends, I couldn’t date … it wasn’t giving back to me what I was putting into it in any real way so it wasn’t worth it for me anymore,” Chatfield says.

“There is nothing I miss about it, it was completely exhausting.

“It’s like if you have to do a two-hour journal every day but make it funny and get people to interact every day and I didn’t have the energy.”

Abbie Chatfield says she didn’t have the energy for radio any longer.

Chatfield recently opened up on her struggles with burnout and a punishing schedule just as she has been equally candid about her unrelenting targeting from trolls.

The worst, she says, followed her time on The Bachelor.

“I got trolled so heavily that anything that happens now pales in comparison,” she says.

“The death threats were definitely the worst thing.

“The police don’t care; they told me to only call them if I got physically harmed.”

Chatfield says it hit another crescendo across 2020/2021 when her home address was leaked.

“I’m pretty stoked with my career, obviously, but the only thing is the address getting leaked … to not feel safe in your home and not want to be there alone,” she says.

Sadly she’s used to the hate but has shifted her attitude to cope.

“I don’t really care, is that bad?” she says. “I’ve done it for a few years now that I don’t let it affect my life.” Despite it all – the threats, hate and burnout – there’s also been good … the podcast, national radio show, a foray into fashion, beer range and TV hosting gigs.

She could never have imagined it would all follow her appearance on the 2019 season of The Bachelor Australia – an application she entered as a joke.

She was single, feeling spontaneous and egged on by her then roommate.

“I just thought it would be funny to apply,” Chatfield says.

Abbie Chatfield on The Bachelor Australia finale in 2019.

“My roommate and I applied as a joke and I auditioned the next day.

“I think I was one of the last people to apply and then I got on … it was all for the banter.”

Chatfield can’t pinpoint what exactly caught the attention of directors but remembers one thing.

“I think I spoke about an ex-boyfriend, I don’t know why, but it was an awful one,” she says.

“I think I said ‘I’m bad at choosing men so can Osher (Gunsberg, host of the show) choose for me?’ or something like that but interestingly, I still go to Osher for dating advice, he is the guiding light.”

Chatfield caught the attention of Bachelor Matt Agnew that season and made it to the final two but was dumped over winner, Chelsie McLeod.

After the cameras stopped rolling it wasn’t a broken heart she was battling though, it was the public spray of vitriol.

She faced plenty of vitriol.

“I was pissed off for the slut-shaming from all of Australia,” she says.

“In the show, I don’t actually say anything mean or awful, it was all that I was horny.

“It was such bullshit.

“It was like, ‘What are you guys actually mad about? I got slut-shamed for wearing a bikini in the pool, are you f —king serious?”

Post-show, Chatfield, who has a degree in property economics (“I really love maths”), kept her job as a real estate analyst for about six months, occasionally posting to her Instagram.

But her candid content captured attention. Her following grew and so did the opportunities. And they haven’t stopped.

“It almost feels like Twilight zone-y. I applied (for The Bachelor) and it was so random, then I became host of FBoy Island and have a Spice Girls’ phone number, like what the f —k?”

Her latest television gig as a judge on The Masked Singer, where she returns for a second season, sees her sit beside Spice Girl Melanie B, Dave Hughes and Chrissie Swan. It’s a seat she can’t believe she landed.

Chrissie Swan, Abbie Chatfield, Mel B and Dave Hughes for the 2022 season of the Masked Singer.

“I don’t know how I got it,” she says, “I just got a call one day asking if I wanted to be on The Masked Singer and I just said ‘Yes’.

“(At first) I was like, ‘As a mask?’ and that was the conversation. It was very lucky.”

The show sees celebrities sing behind wacky masks as the panel of judges guess who they are but Chatfield jokes at her interpretation.

“While it is technically a singing show, it’s more just about us trying to prove we know people in media,” she says with a laugh.

“Last year I wasn’t very good at guessing because everyone else on the panel had 20, 30 years plus in media, Mel B especially, she knows everyone on the planet, ever.”

Of this season, which kicked off last week, Chatfield says she was left gobsmacked.

“There was one reveal that Chrissy and I had lock jaw for 15 minutes even after we turned the cameras off and weren’t filming because we couldn’t compute who was in front of us,” she says. “The masks are absolutely amazing and incredible.”

In the four years since she burst on the scene, Chatfield’s rise is impressive.

We’ve followed her highs, lows and Instagram tirades and as she chats while walking her dog Walter in Sydney, she says she’s learned lessons along the way.

A big one of those has been to keep her dating life private.

“It’s hard to know boundaries but who I’m dating is the main thing. It’s not worth it.”

But while we’re on the topic, she blurts: “I’m vaguely dating. I’m seeing someone but long distance is not really agreeing with me. I need someone in Sydney.”

It’s “exhausting” trying to date, she says, and she “can’t be on the (dating) apps”.

“They removed my account, they thought I was a catfish and I don’t have access to any of the apps, it’s so random,” she jokes.

Abbie Chatfield opens up on life, love and what she definitely won’t talk about again.

“I just meet people through people or at events, or people DM me. It’s dire, it’s bleak, I meet 10 people a year.”

It’s hard to believe but Chatfield says whatever ideas you have about her, think the opposite.

“My life is really boring, all I do is walk my dog and see friends every so often and have four margaritas,” she says.

“I’m not exactly the craziest person or the most intense media personality in terms of what I do in my private time.”

But behind the Abbie we do and don’t see is a formidable woman who undoubtedly commands attention.

And now as she takes a step back to recharge, her momentum remains.

With more time up her sleeve for herself and potentially new projects, there’s no limit to what could come next.

“Maybe I’m going to be crazy and have five margaritas, who knows,” she laughs. ■

The Masked Singer is on Channel 10 now