If winning Australia’s most prestigious podcast award, starting a new breakfast radio show, feuding on national TV, and co-hosting with Australia’s top radio personality all within one month sounds overwhelming, talk to Brittany Hockley.
The Bachelor contestant turned podcast co-host, turned author, turned radio host has done just that.
Earlier this month, Hockley jumped on the KIIS airwaves with Kyle Sandilands to fill in for Jackie O on the nation’s top-rating radio show.
In her newest venture, Hockley will co-host Summer KIIS with Brittany Hockley, Mitch Churi and Phil from Human Nature, kicking off Monday, December 5, from 6am to 10am on KIIS 1065 and KIIS 1011.
Mediaweek spoke to Hockley ahead of her start on Summer Breakfast about stepping into new territories, the challenges of The Challenge and working alongside Australia’s most powerful man in radio.
Balancing podcasting and radio
Hockley has been on the KIIS airwaves for over a year when she and co-host Laura Byrne took their award-winning podcast Life Uncut to the 10-12am Saturday slot.
Talking about all things love, life, and everything in between, the Life Uncut podcast has won the Listeners’ Choice Award at the Australian Podcast Awards for three years in a row.
“It will never not be a crazy amazing feeling. We’ll never not be so grateful and stoked. But it just makes us keep working harder to give great quality content,” Hockley said on their achievements.
See also: Australian Podcast Awards 2022: Big wins for Life Uncut, The Last Outlaws, A Rational Fear
Starting today, Hockley will join Mitch Churi and Phil Burton from Human Nature to take over Summer Breakfast. In a change of pace from her most recent hosting duties with Sandilands, Hockley says she is looking forward to having fun with Churi.
“Mitch and I are genuinely very, very close friends. And we love each other. So I’m really excited to do that with him. And obviously, it’s off the back of doing breakfast with Kyle, which is very different – Mitch Churi and Kyle Sandilands are two polar ends of the spectrum.”
Summer KIIS with Brittany Hockley, Mitch Churi and Phil from Human Nature
Hockley says working with Churi will be a natural experience as the two are already close friends.
“It’s just so easy with him. I think far too often people just try and put two people together and hope for the best, and it doesn’t always work.”
Confirmed guests chatting to the trio on the Summer Breakfast show include Billie Eilish, John Legend, Lewis Capaldi, Louis Tomlinson, Alan Carr, Ellie Goulding, John Krasinski, Michael Kelly, and 5SOS.
“We’re going to be integrating a lot of really cool people and some big talent over the summer. So it’s gonna be very different [to Life Uncut] but a lot of fun.”
Working with the king of radio
Hockley has spent the last few weeks on air with Kyle Sandilands, co-hosting Australia’s top radio show, Kyle and Jackie O – a career move that has garnered mixed opinions.
“Kyle is the best in the business, so I feel so grateful to be having the opportunity and learning from him because he just is so good,” Hockley said.
“And he’s a tough cookie. He for sure gives you a hard time at points, and we know that Kyle is a shock jock it’s what he does and what he’s known for. So there’s been some tough moments for sure.”
Hockley filling in for Jackie O
Despite Sandilands’ tough exterior and controversial opinions that regularly make headlines, Hockley says there’s a softer side to him.
“He’ll hate me saying this, but Kyle has a different side to him that people don’t see. He can be quite soft and a bit of a teddy bear. Every break and every day, he’s always checking in with me and making sure I’m alright, asking how I’m going and if I need anything.
“So he’s been actually an amazing person to work with the last couple of weeks, and I feel like I’ve learned so much from him in just three or four weeks.”
Hockley admits one of the biggest lessons she’s learned over the past few weeks with Sandilands is to have a thick skin.
“He just stands by his opinion, even if it’s against the grain, which I think is really nice. I don’t think many people do that.”
Facing challenges in The Challenge
In addition to her audio achievements, Hockley recently participated in 10’s latest reality series, The Challenge.
Hockley entered the show with high hopes but admits her experience was tainted due to a feud with fellow contestants.
“I was having a really hard time. There were some people on there that were just really horrible people, one in particular, but just really nasty people. And I just thought, “I’m too old for this, I don’t need to put myself in a position where someone can just belittle me and make me feel terrible.””
When asked why she didn’t leave the show, Hockley said that if she left, so did her partner of that week too.
“I didn’t want to be selfish like that and ruin someone else’s experience. I was dead set on leaving until they told me that I would have to take my partner with me.
“In hindsight, I’m glad I did stay because I did have more fun after that person left, and the vibe did change, and the energy did change. It was not what I thought when I went into it.”
What’s next?
Bonding over their Bachelor experiences, Hockley and Byrne started Life Uncut four years ago. Since then, the duo have written a book titled We Love Love and recently went on their first live tour.
“Obviously, we’ve created so much together in the last four years, and I see her more than she sees Matty J [Byrne’s husband], but we are two very different people that do also have different goals and aspirations in life.”
“I have a huge interest in acting and presenting, and I’ve always had an interest in entertainment.
“So as much as we will continue for years to create together, we definitely want to be seen not as just a pair. We want to be seen as individuals that can do different things and are very versatile.”
Brittany Hockley and Laura Byrne
As well as consistently topping podcast charts and taking out podcast awards, the duo placed 17th on Mediaweek’s Star Power 25 list earlier this year at the Mediaweek 100.
“That was unexpected. And it’s nice to know that that power award obviously comes from the audience that we’ve created with the podcast and radio. So that’s always a nice feeling. But we’re a long way to go at 17, so we’ll get working on that,” she joked.
Looking ahead, Hockley shared that she wants to continue creating and working in the industry.
“I want to keep continuing radio and podcasts, obviously. So I want to keep creating and improving in that space. But I want to keep creating in entertainment, I would love to be presenting next year on shows, and I’d love to be acting. Anything really in that industry.
“I love to entertain people, I love to create, I love to get away from my own life for a minute. They’re the things that make me happy. I’m just gonna take it as it comes.”
Summer KIIS with Brittany Hockley, Mitch Churi and Phil from Human Nature kicks off Monday, December 5, from 6am to 10am on KIIS 1065 and KIIS 1011.