Jackie O's forgotten TV career - and why it's back in the spotlight

After the shock split of Aussie radio's most famous duo, attention has quickly turned to Jackie 'O' Henderson's next move. 

For more than two decades, Jackie O and Kyle Sandilands have towered over breakfast radio, cementing themselves as one of the most powerful – and often divisive –partnerships in Australian media.

It's easy to forget Jackie O has spent plenty of time on TV too, something long overshadowed by the sheer scale of her radio career.

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Before she became a household name on the airwaves, however, Jackie O's path into media started much more modestly.

Born Jacqueline Last on the Gold Coast in 1975, her first job was working as a receptionist at a real estate agency.

Like many future radio personalities, she was also an avid listener, regularly calling stations in hopes of winning tickets to see her favourite artists.

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One of those calls in the early 1990s changed everything.

What started as a simple competition entry eventually led Jackie to working behind the scenes in radio – a move that would shape the rest of her professional life.

But radio wasn't the only medium she explored.

In the early 2000s, Jackie appeared on television in ways many viewers may not remember today.

One of her earliest roles came as a judge on the Australian version of Popstars, the reality series that famously launched the girl group, Bardot.

The gig later became a quirky footnote in her working life after Jackie revealed she hadn't been paid for the first season.

Her TV appearances continued throughout the noughties.

In 2005 she hosted Australian Princess, a reality show that attempted to transform everyday women into polished "princesses". The series ran for two seasons and became one of the more unusual reality formats of the mid-2000s.

Two years later she stepped into hidden-camera television, co-hosting Surprise Surprise Gotcha! with radio personality Matt Tilley. It centred on elaborate celebrity pranks and was widely seen as Australia's take on the American hit Punk'd.

Jackie also briefly appeared on the satirical panel and sketch program The Nation, where she used her entertainment knowledge to contribute to the show's commentary on celebrity culture and current events.

Then there was the moment that still surprises people today: her brief foray into film.

Henderson lent her voice to the animated movie Robots, playing the character Loretta Geargrinder in the Australian release. It remains her only film credit.

Of course, there was also that short-lived music detour.

In 2018 she released the charity single, Honey Money, after an on-air dare. The track briefly topped the Australian iTunes chart before being pulled due to a copyright issue.

Jackie and Sandilands also took a swing at one of Australia's biggest reality franchises when they hosted the 2008 season of Big Brother Australia.

At the time the show's ratings were slipping, and the mouthy radio duo were brought in to inject some new energy into the format.

Though perhaps the most chaotic entry in Jackie O's television history came even earlier.

In 2002 she appeared on the short-lived reality show Undercover Angels alongside Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, former Bardot singer Katie Underwood and actress Simone Kessell.

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Inspired by Charlie's Angels, the show followed the group as they carried out acts of kindness for people in need.

It lasted just 11 episodes, but has since become one of those wonderfully strange relics of early-2000s Australian reality TV.

So, if Jackie O suddenly pops up hosting a TV show again, don't be surprised.

She's done it before, and with networks constantly on the hunt for familiar faces with built-in audiences, she ticks plenty of boxes.

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