Find out who is filling in for Ali Clarke on Mix 102.3 here

Ali Clarke’s replacement, filling in for her on Mix 102.3 while she battles breast cancer, is a radio veteran who understands what she is going through. Find out who it is here.

After saying she would never return to breakfast radio, Hayley Pearson is making a comeback to fill-in for Mix 102.3’s Ali Clarke while she battles breast cancer.

On Tuesday, Clarke revealed on-air that she had been diagnosed with the disease that affects one in seven Australian women in their lifetime.

At the time, an announcement about who would co-host Max and Ali in the Morning with Max Burford was not made.

Hayley Pearson will replace Ali Clarke on Mix while the host will undergo treatment for breast cancer. Picture: Claudio Raschella

However, The Advertiser can now exclusively reveal that Pearson will be the fill-in presenter.

The former SAFM and Nova 919 breakfast co-host will start on Monday, July 29, but the show’s name – Max and Ali in the Morning – will not be changed.

It is not known how long Pearson will be in filling in for Clarke, who will undergo a mastectomy and needs to also take time off for further treatment and recovery.

BREKKY BUDDIES

“I’ve known Hayley for years and when she left brekky radio, she said she would never get up early again,” Clarke said in a statement. “For her to come out of ‘retirement’ for me and our listeners fills me with joy. I could not have hoped for a better person to keep Max in line.”

Pearson, who has two sons, Austin and Alfie, with husband Jimmy, said she was returning to brekky radio because “the sisterhood is powerful”.

“Ali is the only reason I’d come back, I will keep her seat warm while she heals,” she said.

Pearson also noted how Clarke had helped people diagnosed with cancer during her radio career: “She has been an absolute star to these people and their families and I know that everyone who knows her, loves her or listens to her on radio would drop everything just to help.”

Dylan Lewis and Hayley Pearson during their time on Nova. Picture: Supplied

‘CLOSE TO ME’

Pearson has loved ones who have been affected by breast cancer, including her mum Rosalie who was diagnosed with the disease eight years ago but is now in remission.

“I also have friends in their 30s and 40s currently undergoing treatment, so breast cancer is something really close to me — and, coincidently, a few days before I found out about Ali, (Adelady) just raised over half a million dollars for breast cancer research here in SA,” she said. “I’ve always said in radio ‘we’re not saving lives’ but by Ali being so raw and honest

by sharing her story, she actually might.”

Hayley Pearson and Michael Beveridge during their SAFM days. Picture: Advertiser Library

FRIENDLY RIVALS

Burford and Pearson both have TV gigs on rival networks. He is 10 News First Adelaide’s sports presenter, while she is co-host of Channel 9’s lifestyle program HelloSA.

Pearson is also the co-creator of media company Adelady, which she started with her best friend Lauren DeCesare. The two worked together at SAFM, where Pearson presented and DeCesare produced the breakfast show.

In 2014, Pearson announced she was leaving the station, after more than four years, to spend more time with her family. Michael Beveridge, who was her co-host, also decided to leave at the same time.

Two years later Pearson made a comeback to breakfast radio on Nova 919. In late 2019, less than a month after her co-host Dylan Lewis resigned, she also gave notice saying it was the right time to move on.

Originally published as Find out who is filling in for Ali Clarke on Mix 102.3 here