Kyle Sandilands was left stunned on Tuesday morning when his ‘arch nemesis’ Steve Price rocked up to the KIIS FM studios after The Project was axed.
The opinion columnist, 70, who had a regular seat on the news program for 15 years before it was canned on Monday, surprised the radio star for his 54th birthday.
The pair have been embroiled in a feud since 2023 when Steve said the shock jock’s radio show would never work in Melbourne, but it seems Kyle has had the last laugh.
Their reunion was thanks to The Kyle & Jackie O Show’s talent manager ‘Intern Pete’ Deppeler, who scouted Steve for a guest appearance as a surprise to Kyle.
‘Oh my god, your arch nemesis! And he came here. He came in the studio,’ co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson said when Steve arrived in the middle of their show.
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Kyle Sandilands was left stunned on Tuesday morning when his ‘arch nemesis’ Steve Price rocked up to the KIIS FM studios after The Project was axed. Pictured L to R: Jackie ‘O’ Henderson, 50, Steve Price, 70, and Kyle Sandilands, 54
At a loss for words, Kyle could only say: ‘Good morning, Steve. How are you mate?’
‘You grubby buffoon. Incel. Have a look at him,’ Steve said to Kyle, but the radio star didn’t take it personally as he laughed at the jabs.
When Kyle asked Steve how he ended up being Kyle’s birthday ‘surprise’, the Project star said: ‘They paid me. Lots of money.’
Kyle couldn’t miss the opportunity to take a dig, saying: ‘I suppose you need the job now The Project’s done.’
Jackie, 50, went on to give listeners some background on Steve and Kyle’s feud, playing audio of the pair slamming each other over the last few years.
It kicked off in 2023 when The Kyle & Jackie O Show made a huge move into Melbourne and signed a multi-million dollar 10-year deal.
The Project host Sarah Harris asked Steve at the time if he believed Kyle and Jackie would be successful in Melbourne.
‘Kyle is a grubby buffoon. I don’t think grubby buffoons work in Melbourne,’ the former Triple M star said.
The opinion columnist, who had a regular seat on the news program for 15 years before it was canned on Monday, surprised the radio star for his 54th birthday
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‘He’s just a grub. Melbourne will not embrace the style of that program as it is right now. Some of the sexually explicit material is off-putting.’
Kyle lashed out at Steve soon after, leaving him a nasty voicemail in retaliation.
‘Once again surprised at your feigned reaction on The Project. Can’t you just be yourself? Can’t you just say your true thoughts?’ Kyle said.
‘I can’t wait to see you face-to-face, buddy. It’s been too long. It’s disappointing that as you get older you’ve just turned into a real piece of s*.’
While The Kyle & Jackie O Show has failed to immediately take off in Melbourne, Kyle appeared to get the last laugh as his show has been steadily rising in 2025 ratings.
‘You can throw the insults out, but we’re 180,000 people out from winning,’ Kyle told Steve this week when he joked there were only ‘three listeners’ in Melbourne.
However, the pair seemed to put their feud to bed as Steve went on to compliment Kyle, saying he is ‘talented’ and ‘a very nice man deep down’.
Kyle returned the favour, saying he ‘agreed’ with a lot of Steve’s right-wing opinions.
The pair have been embroiled in a feud since 2023 when Steve said the shock jock’s radio show would never work in Melbourne, but it seems Kyle has had the last laugh
‘Maybe you were right when you said we’re too vulgar for family friendly Melbourne… We did pump the breaks a bit on the porno,’ he added.
Steve had a regular Monday night appearance on The Project for 15 years.
The Project was officially axed after 16 years this week – with right-wing media personality Steve blasting the show’s axing.
Hosts Waleed Aly, Sarah, Steve and Sam Taunton shared their thoughts on their sacking in the opening minutes of Monday night’s show.
Surprisingly, it was Steve, a regular conservative voice on a show often considered left-wing, who was the most torn up about the cancellation.
‘This is the best crew of people I worked with. I was 55 when I started here. I’m now 70. That’s 15 years. How an old fat guy like me can survive, I don’t know,’ he said.
Steve said the show would leave Melbourne – the city it airs from – poorer, with staff and artists left unable to talk about their products ‘anywhere else’.
‘I’ll miss it. I don’t know what I’ll do on Monday nights,’ he admitted.
The Project was officially axed after 16 years this week
Steve did not mince words when he shared his additional thoughts in a column for the Herald Sun on Monday night.
He slammed viewers who are gleefully ‘dancing on the grave’ of the ‘woke’ series amid its cancellation.
‘Those ignorant people doing the “glad they got sacked” dance over the cancellation called the show woke and leftie – hello, I am the exact opposite of that description – and have been there from almost the start,’ Steve wrote.
‘Show me that sort of political balance on any ABC TV show – you can’t.’
Steve concluded: ‘Melbourne and Australia has lost something unique this week – a live TV show with passion, courage, humour and a heart. It’s sad.’
There were no tears from the cast on Monday night, but there were some laughs – with Sam joking the ‘big news about the show’ was ‘fantastic’.
‘I think I got the tone wrong… We should take this off air!’ he joked, to guffaws from his co-stars.
Waleed then took over in much more serious tone, spammy telling viewers: ‘After 16 years and nearly 4500 episodes, The Project will be no more.’
Waleed additionally confirmed: ‘Our last show will be on June 27 and we will have a cracker.’
Kyle SandilandsJackie ‘O’ HendersonMelbourne
