My Kyle & Jackie O story – one door closes…

After getting back with Kyle & Jackie O for a one-off reunion last week it feels like a good time to remember all the years I had working with them. So I’ve written a blog on my Kyle & Jackie O story. This is Part 3.

The weeks after our wedding were a whirlwind. We honeymooned in Port Douglas and were amazed at the amount of people who would come up to us at the resort or on the street and talk about it.

After we returned to Sydney there were a bunch of media interviews to do. We did newspaper features and TV interviews, even with the ABC’s flagship current affairs show 7:30. In Canberra senator Lyn Alison of the Democrats spoke about us in federal Parliament and put up an ill-fated bill to legalise gay marriage. At the time public support was not as strong for marriage equality, so the bill she proposed didn’t even have the support to get a chance in parliament.

But something had changed. The issue of marriage equality was now firmly on the public agenda.

Back at 2DayFM it was never dull. Kyle & Jackie were ramping up my Scare Geoff segments which included me skydiving while reading the news! Amazingly I land on a target where the Australian Idol contestants and listeners were waiting to welcome me.

I also read the news from a shark pool, a dunking machine, was dropped in the middle of the desert (and had to find my way back to Sydney) and even had crocodiles let loose in my studio in the middle of a news bulletin!

I also remember one morning my news bulletins were sabotaged. My script had been secretly changed with wrong words added and mismatched audio grabs. I stumbled through – ‘what was going wrong!’ My hero Ray Martin was in the studio that morning (I should have known something was afoot) and he smoothly took over to show me how it was done. It was very funny.

Another memorable moment was our 3-day on-air marathon. We wanted to break the world record for staying on-air non-stop. Jackie and I made it through, although we were completely delirious. Kyle pulled out after a few hours because of high blood pressure, but returned the morning it finished to claim the glory with us!

Working on that show I got to meet some amazing celebrities like Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Jermaine Jackson, K.D. Laing, Take That, The Scissor Sisters and Adam Lambert. I even got to spend time with Kylie Minogue in her hotel room trying to keep her entertained when Kyle and Jackie went out for a smoke!

In 2008 I was invited onto Mornings with Kerri-Anne where I became a regular panellist.

The years went by seemingly jam-packed with action, including a trip to L.A. for the Oscars. We did the show there in 2008. I can remember being hypnotised and taking over the narration on a bus tour of the star’s homes! I was giving the passengers the wrong stories about which stars lived where. I hope those poor passengers got their money back!

In Hollywood I got to interview some genuine American legends too. People like Jeff Conway who played Koniki in Grease, Larry Hagman from Dallas, astronaut Buzz Aldrin and former cast members of Dynasty.

The late-Jeff Conway with me in Hollywood.

The Kylie & Jackie O Show always did things that were unpredictable. These usually made for great entertainment, just like the night we all had cameos in the hit musical Priscilla, Queen of the Dessert. Kyle dressed in drag to play the Filipino bride with a penchant for ping-pong balls, Jackie was the pub bogan, Tim Bailey a Swedish backpacker and I played the iconic shimmering silver drag queen on top of the Priscilla bus!

Yes that’s me on the Priscilla bus!

So many great memories, but life is full of chapters and by March 2010 it was time for me to turn the page. I moved to the Hamish & Andy Show where there was no Scare Geoff, and most importantly my alarm was not set for 4:00am.

I left 2DayFM last October after almost 19 years and I promised myself I would take a year off to travel and have some “long service leave”.

A lot of people have been asking me what my future holds. I don’t think you can ever be certain of things like that, but I hope it’s in radio or TV because I love broadcasting. One thing is certain: I know I’ll be happy as long as I have Jason (and of course my daughter Princess Moet).

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