Three key members of The Kyle and Jackie O Show team have been made redundant, months after ARN officially axed the show in March. Content assistant Alfie Laguzza, audio producer Dean Royston known as “Hulk”, and producer Eliza Brown were told their roles were no longer needed. News.com.au understands the three staff members had no heads-up and were surprised by the development.
The trio found out their jobs were on the line via calendar invites to meetings with HR. A source told news.com.au, “It is really sad they’re all super talented and super loyal to the show, and they do crazy hours, and it’d be such a shock to them.” A spokesperson for ARN said the broadcaster had done its best to keep as many jobs as possible, but a small number of roles could not be accommodated elsewhere.
Peter Deppler, known as “Intern Pete”, is now working on The Christian O’Connell show on GOLD FM. Mr Laguzza also works for Kyle Sandilands outside of KIIS as the operations officer for his private company. Mr Royston has the show’s name tattooed on him. It’s understood other team members were shocked by the redundancies but have become used to the network’s decisions taking them by surprise.
All three immediately took to social media to share the news. Mr Laguzza shared that today was “surprisingly” his last day and added a meme about a meeting with HR. Mr Royston posted about moving on to “bigger and better things”, while Ms Brown called it the “ride of a lifetime”. The redundancies may have blindsided the workers, but given the show’s large team, it isn’t a huge surprise to those in the industry.
KIIS is undergoing change after the termination of both Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O Henderson earlier this year. Both are now contesting their terminations separately and legally. Meanwhile, ARN announced last week that Karl Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire will host a Friday afternoon show on its secondary network GOLD.
