Kyle Sandilands recalls blow up with Harry Connick Jr during Australian Idol filming

Kyle Sandilands and Harry Connick Jr did not see eye-to-eye on the set of Australian Idol, culminating in a blow up over the phone.

Kyle Sandilands has revealed he and US singer Harry Connick Jr did not get along while filming Channel 7’s Australian Idol.

Speaking to KIIS FM’s Will and Woody this week ahead of the show’s premiere next Monday, the shock jock opened up about a “blow up” during filming that led to the two judges not speaking off set.

Sandilands’ explained that things were “prickly” between him and the Grammy-winning artist from the get-go.

“I didn’t mind him … I don’t feel he got the vibe of me,” Sandilands said.

“Personally, I don’t think he gelled with me. If someone doesn’t like you, and you feel it, you just don’t like them automatically,” he added.

Kyle Sandilands, Meghan Trainor, Amy Shark and Harry Connick Jr are this year’s Australian Idol judges. Picture: Channel 7.

Asked if the tensions boiled over into a clash, Sandilands admitted that there was a disagreement over contestant pronouns.

“Yes, we had a blow up … It wasn’t a Michael Clarke, Karl Stefanovic situation,” he joked.

“He rang me, I was leaving, I was climbing up the 3 or 4 steps to my plane while he was lined up for the airport going through security,” he quipped of his luxury travel arrangements compared to the other judges.

“I said to someone that he wanted the pronouns to be put onto the contestants’ sheets. I thought I heard him say to a producer, ‘we need the pronouns’ and I told someone on an interview, ‘Oh Harry’s going on about the pronouns.’

“Apparently, it wasn’t Harry. And he rang me and he took great offence.”

Kyle opened up about the feud with Will and Woody. Picture: Twitter

According to Kyle, Harry Connick Jr didn’t ‘gel’ with his personality.

Sandilands said the phone call turned into a squabble which ended with Sandilands apologising while asserting that it was “no big deal”.

“I just thought ‘what a flop’ and hung up,” he recalled, adding: “That was it. Friendship over.”

He went on to say that he and Connick Jr. “don’t really chat off the set”.

“He’s a busy guy, he enjoys his own company,” he said.

The actor and singer was announced as part of the judging panel last September, along with Sandilands, US pop star Meghan Trainor and Aussie musician Amy Shark.

Ricki-Lee, who rose to fame from the 2004 season of the show, and E! News host Scott Tweedie, will host.

Ricki-Lee Coulter and Scott Tweedie are the new hosts of Australian Idol. Picture: Tim Hunter.

At the time of the cast announcement, reactions were mixed.

While many were thrilled to see that Channel 7 had snagged two international faces for the show, a number of Twitter users noted the lack of multicultural inclusion on the all-white cast.

“Where is the diversity?” questioned former ABC News reporter Mark Kearney.

“The OG Australian Idol had at the heart of its panel Marcia Hines. This one has … a foul shock jock with a history of racism, misogyny and homophobia? Yucky,” he added of Sandilands, who has a history of making controversial remarks on his morning radio show.