60 Minutes Australia: Kyle Sandilands’ big health reveal ‘a joke’

60 Minutes spent days teasing that Kyle Sandilands was poised to reveal a serious health condition – but the truth left viewers furious.

Despite speculation Kyle Sandilands was poised to reveal a serious health condition in an “emotionally charged” profile on 60 Minutes, the interview turned out to be nothing more than a joke.

The segment, which was filmed over a six-month period in both Sydney and Los Angeles by reporter and Sandilands’ buddy Karl Stefanovic, failed to impress viewers, even prompting an angry response from fellow radio shock jock Derryn Hinch.

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60 Minutes had earlier this week used the “health battle” in its promotional material, questioning if the “loudmouth of the airwaves is about to be silenced”.

But the reveal on Sunday night left viewers stunned and angry.

“There’s a condition that I’ve been diagnosed with and I haven’t spoke to anyone about,” the program teased, with both Sandilands and co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson in tears.

But it was all a joke. Literally.

“Are you joking?” Jackie asks.

“Yeah,” Kyle responds.

“Why would you do that? I genuinely,” Henderson says tearily.

“You had me. You so had me. No that is emotionally mean. That was really cruel. A**hole.”

“No, no. There’s nothing wrong with me,” Sandilands explains.

The trick prompted an angry response from Derryn Hinch and others on social media.

It might seem unusual but Kyle’s obsession with his health – or lack of it – has become a regular topic of chatter on the show. But they’re still not sure whether they should be laughing or crying about it. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/x3nQqd03T1

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 24, 2020

#60minutes. Anybody who has ever been diagnosed with terminal cancer, and had to tell loved ones, would not appreciate Kyle Sandiland’s ‘joke’ tonight.

— Derryn Hinch (@HumanHeadline) May 24, 2020

One thing for @kyleandjackieo to pull a prank about a life threatening illness. That’s on brand. Different thing for @60Mins to use it in a promo knowing they wouldn’t be delivering. That’s off brand.

— Peter Ford (@mrpford) May 24, 2020

That’s more than a whiff of desperation...#60mins

— ros reines (@RosReines) May 24, 2020

Sandilands, who appeared on the program to celebrate 20 years on air with Jackie O, described himself as a “big beetroot” that was “ready to explode with high blood pressure any second”.

He revealed his blood pressure “was good for the first time in probably fifteen years” and that he was hopeful, “maybe I won’t just die one day without any warning”. He described it as a “silent killer”.

But a check on the blood pressure machine during the interview revealed his blood pressure was high once again, with Stefanovic calling it a “grim prognosis”.

“That means at any stage I could die. Any … at any time. Day or night,” Sandilands said.

“Where’s my doctor? (laughs) He’ll, he’ll die when he sees that.”

so that entire Kyle and Jackie O segment was a hoax. How low of 60 Minutes to essentially use them as an Ad to hook viewers in for a "health secret" of Kyle. There was NO SECRET ISSUE. And he joked Jackie into thinking he had a health diagnosis. Appaling.

— Emma Hegedüs 🥀 (@EmmaH1123) May 24, 2020

Kyle Sandilands opens up about his health battles, revealing a grim prognosis for one of the most successful radio hosts in Australia. But he’s not planning on going anywhere just yet. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/53BKhKw4Fb

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 24, 2020

And we might have a new clubhouse leader for worst tv segment I’ve watched this year...#60Mins

— matt laing (@matt_laing) May 24, 2020

The pair also commented on the lie detector controversy in 2009 which saw the radio duo pulled off air by 2DAYFM after a controversial stunt involving a 14-year-old girl who said she had been raped.

The pair were kicked off the air a few days after the girl was strapped to a lie detector and quizzed about her sexual history, sparking outrage from listeners.

The girl revealed she had been raped when she was 12.

Sandilands also lost his Australian Idol judging job in the fallout from the incident,

“I think lesson learned about what is going too far. I wasn’t a mother back then,” Henderson said.

“There’s no way I would do that now. If someone suggested that as a segment, I would know, no, we’re not putting a young girl on a lie-detector test.

“That is probably the hardest part when working with Kyle, is that he has this really beautiful side … and then with that comes this other side that you just think, ‘Oh no, why do you have to say that? Why?’

“I don’t know why I get nervous for him. Because I feel like sometimes he … Yeah, because I’m always worried you’re going to say something that will one day just ruin you,” she told Sandilands.

“I feel like I always have to talk over him to try and stop him from going a place where sometimes he doesn’t get that if you go there, this is going to become a thing.

“I’m not his mother. I mean, it isn’t my responsibility to always pull Kyle up. I mean, he’s a big boy. He knows what he’s doing.

“If I feel he’s crossed the line, I will definitely pull him up on it and I think I am less afraid to do that now.

“There were things we did that were terrible I think and if those things hadn’t have happened and if people hadn’t have shown a light on it, would we have just kept going with it … trying to stay number one is harder than getting to number one because you’re there and then you think, ‘okay, what else should we do? We’ve already done this shocking segment. How can we do another shocking … Something even more shocking’.

“I think that’s where our thought process was back then and thank God we’ve learned from that and we don’t do that sort of stuff anymore.”

So wait, the entire marketing on the announcement of a health condition was all for that joke? #60Mins

— Peter Morton (@petermortonidau) May 24, 2020

#KyleSandilands lies in @60Mins interview with mate @karlstefanovic, making an emotionally manipulative joke about his health, incl. fake tears. And @Channel9 uses the 5sec moment as their promo, knowing it's a lie! Way to insult your viewers, Nine. #60Mins #ThisIsNotJournalism

— Peter Murphy (@PeterWMurphy1) May 24, 2020

Yeah, this puff piece on Kyle and Jackie O on 60 Minutes is a hard pass for me. Nothing new so far... switching off in 5, 4, 3...

— Clare Rigden (@iamclare) May 24, 2020

Henderson also revealed she thought Sandilands was “a disaster” when they first met in 2000 after Sandilands’ hosted a successful gig in Brisbane.

Henderson said on the second night the pair worked together she thought, “this guy’s not going to work”.

Radio bosses told her to “give him a chance”.

“I’m so glad they said that,” she said.

“Because imagine – what if I didn’t?”

Kyle Sandilands is front and centre of every scandal and if Jackie O isn’t collateral damage, then she’s slammed as complicit. But she says she’s not afraid to pull up Kyle when he makes a mistake. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/2nqAP2NajB

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) May 24, 2020

The program also revealed why Sandilands spends six months of the year in Los Angeles, broadcasting to his Australian audience from across the hemisphere.

According to Stefanovic, it’s because “he’s a virtual nobody on the streets”.

“I love the anonymity. That’s, that’s my main thing,” Sandilands said, while also revealing the start time in LA is a cool 11am; a vast difference to the 4am call time for his staffers in Sydney (though Jackie O is notoriously late).

Sandilands, who split with long term girlfriend Imogen Anthony last year, revealed he is also looking for love despite reports he is dating his former personal assistant Tegan Kynaston.

“I’m always looking for love. I’m the kid who was thrown into the gutter at 15, of course I want … I’m always looking for someone to love me back,” he said.

“I’ve got a lot to give but, you know, I want it back. Probably even more than I want to give.”