‘Smoking cones and eating paddle pops’: What radio king Kyle Sandilands was like to live with

A former housemate of Kyle Sandilands has revealed what a horror the radio king was to live with, saying “he never left the house … just sat there and smoked cones”.

KIIS FM breakfast host Jase Hawkins has told of life as Kyle Sandilands’ housemate, saying the radio heavyweight used to sit around “smoking cones” and eating paddle pops”.

Hawkins and Sandilands shared a house in Sydney in the very early 2000s after Sandilands had poached him from Triple M in Brisbane.

At that stage Sandilands was hosting nights on 2DayFM with Jackie ‘O’ Henderson and Hawkins, known as “Labrat”, was brought in to answer calls and be the program’s stunt guy.

“I was 18. He (Kyle) did not drink. He never left the house, he just sat there and smoked cones all week and I would just passively get stoned,” Hawkins revealed at the Commercial Radio Industry Awards.

Sandilands has admitted he was “an arsehole” in the past. Picture: Channel 7.

“And then once a week he would say ‘let’s go to the video shop’ and I would find the best outfit I owned and wear that and it was the only time we left the house.”

Going into the radio studio was the exception to their housebound lifestyle.

“Every night at 8pm he (Kyle) would look at me and go ‘remember I took you off the streets and gave you a job? Can you ride up the street and get paddle pops from the servo?’,” Hawkins said.

“He was hosting nights with Jackie and I was doing phones and he would look at me every Saturday night at 8pm with those bright red eyes and ask if I could ride up to the servo and get paddle pops and I would go, ‘Kyle I don’t think I could work a bike.”

Hawkins, who now hosts KIIS FM Melbourne’s Jase and Lauren show, added: “I’m sure that was the old Kyle.”

Hawkins and Sandilands have had their ups and downs. Sandilands infamously did not turn up at Hawkins’ wedding in 2012, despite being the MC.

In 2018 Sandilands acknowledged he had been a dud mate.

“God I was an a**ehole to this bloke,” Sandilands confessed on his KIIS FM Sydney breakfast show.

Sandilands would make his housemate ride to the servo to get him ice-creams.

“I’d sit at home stoned and I’d send him up to the servo … I wouldn’t even let him take the car. I’d make him take the pushbike.”

Sandilands and Henderson have been tipped to take their controversial Sydney radio show national – which would see them consume the Melbourne KIIS breakfast shift – once their new contract comes into play.

They are currently in negotiations for a mega new deal with KIIS’s parent company ARN.

Meanwhile, one of the brightest stars in Melbourne radio is out of contract as rumours swell about a potential takeover by Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson of the KIIS Melbourne breakfast gig.

Lauren Phillips, who has combined with Jase Hawkins to create a clever, funny and headline generating breakfast team at KIIS is understood to have signed a two and a half year deal when she joined KIIS breakfast in mid 2021.

Phillips, who has extensive TV experience, has proved to be a natural radio talent and along with Clint Stanway has been an inspired pairing with Hawkins.

With talks of takeovers and the shadow of Sandilands being networked into Melbourne breakfast, it is no doubt an uneasy time to be between contracts.

Phillips would be an asset to any network.