Kyle Sandilands did not mince words on Friday when he revealed what he thought about critics of his show’s controversial Melbourne ‘ball drop’ contest.
The radio king, 53, and co-star Jackie O, 49, hosted a promotion for their show dubbed the $100k Ball Drop, which saw 200 balls dropped from a helicopter over Elsternwick Park Tennis Centre in Melbourne on Friday morning.
Kyle said a number of people had complained about apparent safety concerts hosting the segment – and he had some stern words for them.
‘People were trying to close it down, rallying the government, contacting the air marshals – real little whinging b***hes,’ Kyle told listeners.
‘They just did not want us doing it, thought it was too dangerous, people could get killed and all this, just a lot of drama.’
He added the segment had received approval from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority – and so dismissed complaints against the segment as ‘fake’.
Kyle Sandilands (pictured) did not mince words on Friday when he revealed what he thought about critics of his show’s controversial Melbourne ‘ball drop’ contest
‘Now who would benefit from trying to ruin one of our contests? Maybe another radio station, maybe some old mole who just does not know what fun is, maybe some bloke Jackie ghosted, who knows?’
Kyle then said there was no truth to the claim the station had originally planned on using tennis balls and switched to foam ones at the last minute.
‘We’re throwing foam balls out of a helicopter, not grenades.’
KIIS FM management had previously revealed extensive safety tests had been conducted to ensure the contest ran smoothly.
Elsewhere, Kyle slammed Sunrise host Natalie Barr for claiming his controversial ‘ball drop’ contest was dangerous.
In the segment, 100 hopefuls ran on to the court to grab two balls each that were labelled with a prize valued up to $100,000.
But as the competition was gearing up on Friday morning, Sandilands had some stern words for Barr after she suggested on-air that the stunt was potentially dangerous.
Barr was discussing the stunt with reporter Andrew McCormack who was on the scene when she mentioned it had generated community backlash.
The radio king, 53, and co-star Jackie O, 49, hosted a promotion for their show dubbed the $100k Ball Drop, which saw 200 balls dropped from a helicopter over Elsternwick Park Tennis Centre in Melbourne on Friday morning
‘Were people worried a ball would hit them or go through the ceiling or something,’ she asked the reporter.
‘Literally across the road is a whole lot of apartments,’ he replied. ‘They’ve had to change to foam balls.’
‘Won’t the blades, won’t the wind of the blades just go ‘whoop’?’ asked Barr, referring to the balls being thrown off trajectory.
‘If nothing else, it’s very interesting to watch,’ co-host Matt Shirvington added.
After Kyle and Jackie played the Sunrise exchange on air, she claimed the breakfast show was hoping something would go wrong.
‘We’ve got TV covering this and they’re only covering this because they want a disaster to happen,’ she said.
‘How thorough have we been with this, is my question.’
There was a slight drama as they prepared to drop the balls as Kyle attempted to cross to Cooper Johns who was in the helicopter.
When a connection could not initially be established, Kyle offered a panicked: ‘Sunrise was right! It’s a disaster.’
Fortunately, the segment went off without a hitch.
‘There’s no disaster I can see, all the balls have dropped on the tennis court,’ said a relieved Jackie.
