Grant Denyer spills on brutal axing: ‘It rocked me for years’

Grant Denyer has revealed that he was a “blubbering mess” after he lost a high-profile gig, saying the axing completely destroyed his confidence.

Grant Denyer has opened up about the two most brutal axings of his career: one that left him in tears, and one where his dream show was axed before it even aired on TV.

The Gold Logie winner spoke about the scarring incidents on the final episode of news.com.au’s podcast, I’ve Got News For You.

Radio shock

Denyer has been on TV for 25 years and has hosted plenty of shows in that time including Family Feud, It Takes Two, Australia’s Got Talent, Million Dollar Minute and The Great Australian Spelling Bee.

But surprisingly, the most brutal axing of his career wasn’t in TV, but rather breakfast radio.

In 2018 Denyer was named as a co-host of the 2Day FM breakfast show in Sydney alongside Em Rusciano and Ed Kavalee.

Ed Kavalee, Em Rusciano and Grant Denyer. Picture: Supplied

It was the fifth breakfast line-up the radio station had tried since Kyle and Jackie O left 2Day FM at the end of 2013 and moved over the KIIS FM.

Rusciano left the radio show in late 2018 and was replaced by Ash London – but the program failed to make a dent in the ratings and the trio were axed in August, 2019.

“That one really hurt,” Denyer told I’ve Got News For You. “Because I’d had lunch with a head executive a week earlier who promised me that they were going to sign me for another five years, and then a week later I finish a show and then at 9.05am I walk into a meeting and they say, ‘well, that was your last show.’

“I burst into tears,” Denyer said. “I was a blubbering mess. I cried in the corner for quite a while.

“That one hurt because you give so much of yourself in breakfast radio … and you share a lot of deep, personal stories, some that are humiliating and embarrassing … because there’s such a need to deliver content every day to connect with an audience.

Grant Denyer wont the Gold Logie in 2018. Picture: Nigel Hallett

“When you have given so much of your personal IP to the breakfast show and it’s still not enough, that shocked me and rocked me for a couple of years,” Denyer said.

“I took a lot of getting over that. In fact, I went from having probably the most confidence I’d ever had in my entire career to having the least amount of confidence that I’ve ever had, and it’s taken a bit of a steady road to come back.”

2Day FM chose not to replace Denyer, Kavalee and London with another breakfast show, instead opting to play music between 6-9am.

Then, in 2021, the station launched a new show starring Dave Hughes, Ed Kavalee and Erin Molan which is still on air today.

Axed before it aired

The other most brutal axing of Denyer’s career was a TV show that never even made it to air.

“It was at Channel 7, and we were about to create the new millennium version of Hey Hey It’s Saturday,” Denyer recalled. “It was called Saturday Night’s Alright.

“We’d spent a million bucks on a pilot, it was incredible, it was a game changer, it was going to blow everyone’s mind.”

But Channel 7 decided to pause the show when they heard that Channel 9 was going to bring back Hey Hey.

“They (Channel 7) were like, ‘let’s let Channel 9 and Daryl (Somers) go first and then if it works, we’ll run ours,’” Denyer told I’ve Got News For You.

“After two or three episodes, unfortunately Daryl’s show started to fizzle and then that killed our big, giant variety show, which is the show I’ve always wanted since I was a kid.

“It was axed before it even went to air!” he said.

Denyer currently hosts a popular podcast with his wife, Chezzi, called: It’s All True.

Grant and Chezzi Denyer.

Livinia Nixon and Daryl Somers on the set of Hey Hey. Picture: Channel 9

I’ve Got News For You

Other stars who appeared on the last episode of I’ve Got News For You include Maz Compton (who was also brutally axed from 2Day FM), and comedian Joel Creasey (who was on the set of Neighbours on the day the cast and crew were told the show was coming to an end).

Sadly, the I’ve Got News For You podcast has come to an end after 350-odd episodes which featured more than 500 guests.

In total, it had more than 1.1 million listens since it launched in late 2021.