Merrick Watts: ‘There was a lot of fame and I was a douchebag’

MERRICK Watts has revealed that he regrets his “poor behaviour” from when he and Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross were the biggest stars on radio.

Merrick and Rosso in 2009.

AT one stage in the early 2000s, Merrick Watts and Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross were the biggest stars on Sydney radio.

After jumping ship from Triple J to help launch Nova in Sydney in 2001, the breakfast duo quickly rose to the top of the FM rankings.

But with success came inflated egos and nowadays Merrick Watts has revealed that he’s not proud of his “poor behaviour” at the time.

Appearing as a guest on Rachel Corbett’s You’ve Gotta Start Somewhere podcast, Watts was asked what his biggest regret is.

“I regret the poor behaviour that I displayed in parts of my radio career,” he said.

“When I was at Nova and Rosso and I were number one and everything was flying and there were parties and drinks and it was crazy ... there was a lot of money and there was a lot of attention and there was a lot of fame and I was a douchebag.”

Kate Ritchie was the third co-host of Merrick and Rosso in 2008 and 2009.

But Watts, who now hosts Merrickville on Triple M Sydney, said he doesn’t necessarily regret his behaviour because it made him who he is today.

“I think it’s helped get me to this point now where I know that was bad,” he said.

“I’m not living like that now. So that’s a life lesson for me. I regret specifically some of the times that I hurt people or upset people that I worked with because that’s not me. For some reason I fell into that and I became like that for a very short period of time but long enough that I regret it.”

Merrick and Rosso’s Nova radio show came to an abrupt end in 2009 when Ross shocked listeners by announcing he was leaving.

“Over the last few weeks people have said some of the nicest things I’ve ever heard in my life about this breakfast show and about the integrity of this show — and as much as it pains me to leave it’s time for me to do something different,” Ross said on-air when announcing his exit.

At the time, Watts was quick to add that Ross’s decision wasn’t due to a personality clash between the two stars.

Rosso recently hosted a two-part series on the ABC called Streets of Your Town.

Merrick Watts is still on Triple M and is currently touring his comedy show, Man of the Hour.

“This has nothing to do with Rosso and I not liking each other,” Watts said at the time, “no fights, there’s no carry-on, there’s nothing like that”.

There were plenty of industry rumours as to what exactly caused the duo to split but neither Watts nor Ross have ever revealed the truth.

When asked in 2012 about his former on air partner, Watts told The Daily Telegraph: “I wouldn’t say we have a hostile relationship”.

“We went in different directions. We got new jobs, had families. We just lead different lives.”