Jackie O (radio host)

Not to be confused with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Jackie O
Jackie O with Kyle Sandilands in 2011
Born	31 January 1975 (1975-01-31) Adelaide, South Australia
Show	The Kyle and Jackie O Show The Kyle and Jackie O Hour of Power Take 40 Australia Australian Idol
Station(s)	2Day FM
Style	Breakfast Show Host and Television Presenter
Country	Australia
Previous show(s)	Hot 30 Countdown, Australian Princess, Popstars, Big Brother Australia

Jacqueline Ellen Marie Henderson, better known as Jackie O, (born 31 January 1975) is an Australian commercial radio host, actress and television presenter. She is best-known nationally for presenting The Hot Hits, the Hot 30 Countdown, Take 40 Australia and the Kyle & Jackie O on 2Day FM with Kyle Sandilands and for hosting Australian Princess. She is also an ambassador of well known organisation Animals Australia.

She has also hosted celebrity prank show Surprise Surprise Gotcha and appeared on the 2007 comedy series The Nation on the Nine Network. She also was the co-host of Big Brother Australia, alongside Kyle Sandilands, after the original host Gretel Killeen resigned from the series.

Biography

Early life

Jackie O was born on 31 January 1975 in Adelaide, South Australia.

Radio

Henderson (then known as Jackie Last) originally had no intentions to become a radio personality until meeting Phil O'Neil whilst he was the night host at the Gold Coast's Sea FM in early 1993. At the time, she had worked as an office girl and sandwich hand at a delicatessen. but moved to Canberra with O'Neil a few months later, after he accepted an offer to join FM104.7. After initial rejections by management to have her as his 'phone girl', they finally agreed, although no remuneration was offered.

Soon after, O'Neil accepted an offer to join Triple M in Adelaide but only on condition that Jackie was to be his co-host and it was at this time that she adopted the stage name "Jackie O". When the next survey result came out, the duo's ratings had doubled, easily beating their main rivals SA-FM in the same time slot. After another ratings rise in the following survey, Phil and Jackie were snapped up by Fox FM in Melbourne. Soon after, their show was networked (Hot 30) after their move to 2Day Fm in Sydney.^{[citation needed]}

The duo co-hosted a Network Ten music show called Ground Zero and the Hot 30 radio show during the late 1990s until the couple divorced and O'Neil left for the United Kingdom. Henderson's career on radio rose to new heights after she was partnered with "shock jock" Kyle Sandilands on the Austereo Network (broadcasting from Sydney station 2Day FM). The pair moved from drive time to breakfast at the beginning of 2005. They continued to host the countdown show The Hot Hits until August 2009.

In 2004, Jackie O was involved in an incident with Australian rock band Frenzal Rhomb. At a rock festival in Darwin, she arrived on the stage nine hours late and cut into the playing time of Frenzal Rhomb. The band amped up and played over the top of her and Jackie-O left the stage in tears. Sandilands later spoke abusively to lead singer Jay Whalley during an abrasive and confronting radio interview, with Whalley asserting that Jackie O's security had threatened members of the band, while Sandilands responded by threatening to have the Austereo network blacklist the group's recordings.

In addition to radio, TV and advertising appearances, Henderson has also done voice-over work for the animated movie Robots, voicing the character "Loretta Geargrinder" in the Australian release.

Television

Jackie O has also hosted a variety of television shows, most prominently the Popstars series, in which televised auditions were held to select members of a vocal group. In 2005, Jackie O also hosted the Network Ten reality show, Australian Princess, in which they transformed a group of women to sophisticated "princesses". A second series of Australian Princess had gone to air during the non-ratings summer period on Network 10 starting in December. No reason was given by the Network as to why it was shown out of the official ratings period.

In June 2007, she was a cast member of the The Nation airing on the Nine Network. She was also co-host of the comedy show Surprise Surprise Gotcha on the same network, the series has been called the Australian version of Punk'd which was made famous by pranking many celebrities. In October 2007, she along with her radio partner Kyle Sandilands would take Gretel Killeen's job in hosting the 2008 series of Big Brother Australia. Killeen hosted the show from its start in 2001 to 2007. Following poor ratings for this 2008 series, Network Ten announced on 14 July 2008 that Big Brother Australia would not return in 2009.

Controversy

In July 2006, it emerged that some of the 'callers' to the Jackie and Sandilands' 2Day FM morning radio show were actually fictitious. The duo claimed to be unaware of this. On 20 July 2009, Jackie O and Sandilands, on-air, 'cruelly' and 'sadistically' taunted a refugee from Pol Pot's Cambodia. They meted out similar treatment to the woman's 19 year-old niece.

In January 2012, Jackie was criticised by gay rights activists, who accused her of homophobia after she complained on air that she no longer liked her middle name, Ellen, because it "sounds a bit lez" - an apparent reference to US comedian Ellen Degeneres.

2009 Lie Detector Radio Segment

On 29 July 2009, a segment aired in which a 14-year-old girl was strapped to a lie detector while her mother, Sandilands and Jackie O asked probing questions about her past experiences with sex and drugs. Before questioning started Jackie Henderson asked the mother "What’s your worst fear? Is it the sex?". Sandilands was participating in the show from New Zealand via hookup.

The child started by saying, "I'm scared. It's not fair". Sandilands said, "She is scared everyone. Yeah." The segment went astray when the child revealed she had been raped at the age of 12. After a long pause, Sandilands then asked "Right ... is that the only experience you've had?".

The segment was widely criticised by health professionals, media commentators, the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the public, and reported internationally. A group of 15 high-profile psychologists, academics and child advocates wrote to The Age suggesting the show had been the venue for child abuse and a gross violation of human rights.

As a result of the stunt and the ensuing backlash, advertisers American Express, Optus, Qantas and Network Ten pulled their advertising from the 2DayFM morning show. Austereo put the show "in recess" for an undisclosed period of time as of 2 August 2009. On 13 August 2009, Austereo chairman Peter Harvie and chief executive Michael Anderson said Jackie O and Sandilands will be back on air on 18 August 2009.

Personal life

She was married to her co host Phil O'Neil during their combined radio career. After their divorce, O'Neil moved to the United Kingdom in the late 1990s. In 2003, she married UK photographer Lee Henderson. In 2007, she launched her 'Jackie O' jewellery collection.

She is vegetarian, and in 2008 was named one of Australia's sexiest vegetarians. In October 2009, Jackie O was named as the second most hated celebrity in an annual list by Zoo Magazine (only surpassed by co-host Kyle Sandilands at number one)

In July 2010, Jackie O announced that she was pregnant with her first child with husband Lee Henderson. Jackie O gave birth to a baby girl, Catalina "Kitty" Mae Henderson early on the morning of 10 December 2010. A controversy started when a photo of Jackie O feeding her baby while crossing a street was published. The incident was widely covered in the Australian media.

External links

• Jackie O at the Internet Movie Database
• Kyle and Jackie O Show – 2Day FM Official site
• Radio bottom feeders need intervention The Daily Telegraph – Michelle Cazzulino (30 July 2009)
• Fun – Kyle and Jackie O Style ABC 'Media Watch' (3 Aug 2009)