Kyle Sandilands announces Australian Idol star Mark Holden is DEAD even though he’s alive

Kyle Sandilands has raised eyebrows by falsely announcing that his former Australian Idol co-star, Mark Holden, is dead – despite being still alive at the age of 68.

The bizarre moment happened at the beginning of the Kyle And Jackie O Show on Wednesday, when Sandilands unveiled the celebrity jury for Seven’s Australian Idol reboot.

The highly anticipated lineup includes Sandilands, Australian singer Amy Shark and American stars Meghan Trainor and Harry Connick Jr.

After revealing the judges on-air, Sandilands told his co-host Jackie ‘O’ Henderson that he wished former judge Marcia Hines was also part of the rebooted panel.

“Well, you can’t bring back everyone who was on it,” Henderson replied, to which Sandilands agreed, “No. Well Mark [Holden] is dead.’

Holden was one of the three original judges for Australian Idol, but has not been invited to return to the panel for the reboot.

‘No he isn’t!’ replied Henderson. ‘Is not he? Oh…” Sandilands muttered, adding, “He’s as good as dead, I guess.”

However, Henderson admitted that Holden would not be a good choice for the show due to his battle with osteoporosis.

Sandilands agreed: “Well, you can’t walk all over the country with a bloody bag of bones in some sort of protective layer of jelly. I do like Mark. Gosh, Mark and I had fun.’

Sandilands, Holden and Hines acted together as judges from 2005 to 2007.

Australian Idol is known for discovering a range of best-selling artists and spawning hit singles that have hit the charts.

You could join Aussies superstar Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, Matt Corby, Ricki-Lee, Anthony Callea, Stan Walker, Casey Donovan and Courtney Act, and international icons Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Adam Lambert and more , all of whom launched their brilliant careers on the Idol stage,” the network said.

Seven announced plans for an Idol reboot in 2020 — at the time, the network had planned the show for 2022, but it’s now going through 2023.

Angus Ross, Seven’s Director of Programming, said at the time, ‘Idol is the grandfather of all! The biggest show in the world is coming to Seven in 2022, and we know Australians will love it.

“We can’t wait to bring Idol back to Australian audiences in 2022, putting our prime time content lineup even further ahead of the competition.”

“We’re home to the biggest franchises on television at Seven, and Idol is the biggest of them all. Bring on 2022!’ added Ross.

Based on the worldwide Pop Idol format – the most watched TV franchise in history – Australian Idol aired on Channel 10 from 2003 to 2009.

Channel 10 had originally bought the rights to the Idol franchise in 2003 for $15 million.

The first season was a huge success, attracting more viewers than major events like the AFL Grand Final.

Unlike other singing shows, Australian Idol has a track record for making bonafide stars, with the most notable being the inaugural winner, Guy Sebastian.