Sam Armytage podcast leaves Jess Rowe ‘raging’: Inside Mail

Sam Armytage has triggered friction in Australia’s celebrity podcast scene, with Jessica Rowe reportedly ‘furious’ over fears the former Sunrise presenter could lure away guests for her new interview show.

Armytage, 50, debuted her independent podcast, Act Two with Samantha Armytage, on Wednesday, securing Hollywood actor and high-profile defamation litigant Rebel Wilson as her first guest.

Her arrival in an already competitive podcast market has reportedly placed her in direct competition with Rowe, 56, who has spent the last five years developing her own celebrity interview program, The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show.

According to industry insiders, Rowe has been ‘raging’ over Armytage moving into what she considers her space. Both hosts are pursuing many of the same prominent Australians prepared to speak candidly about their careers, private lives and personal challenges.

‘Jess has been telling people how frustrated she is about Sam’s new podcast. She has spent years building her guest list and is extremely protective of it,’ a well-connected industry source claimed.

Armytage has already given her new series a strong opening by landing Wilson for its premiere episode.

Wilson is expected to reflect on the personal and professional hurdles she has encountered, including intense scrutiny of her filmmaking ambitions and the demands of living under constant public attention.

With Act Two, Armytage is promising more intimate and revealing discussions than she was generally able to have during the tightly controlled pace of breakfast television.

That approach closely mirrors the format Rowe has championed since launching her podcast in 2021.

The former Studio 10 presenter has cultivated a loyal audience by inviting well-known guests to discuss subjects including heartbreak, mental health, fertility, professional disappointment and the experience of beginning again.

The Jess Rowe Big Talk Show has now surpassed 250 episodes and featured a notable line-up of guests.

Its recent interviewees have included supermodel Miranda Kerr, fashion businesswoman Pip Edwards, comedian Denise Scott and fashion editor Laura Brown.

Earlier this year, Rowe also spoke with Dame Quentin Bryce, Donna Hay, Suzi Quatro and Kathy Lette.

Armytage herself featured as a guest on an episode released on October 21, 2025.

That kind of star-studded guest list is likely to be the benchmark Armytage will aim for as she works to establish Act Two.

The reported competition also reunites two recognisable figures from Australia’s notoriously cut-throat breakfast television world.

Rowe worked on Nine’s Today before establishing a career spanning television, publishing and podcasting.

Armytage, meanwhile, spent eight years co-hosting Seven’s Sunrise before moving into reality television with Farmer Wants a Wife and Nine’s The Golden Bachelor.

She recently returned to breakfast TV as a fill-in presenter on Today, but has made it clear she has no plans to resume the early morning schedule permanently.

Instead, Armytage is focused on shaping her next career chapter.

Unlike the television programs she has fronted throughout her career, Act Two is a project she owns and controls herself.

She has spent months developing the format, approaching potential guests through her personal contacts and exploring commercial sponsorship opportunities.

The series is expected to run weekly through Christmas, with plans already underway for a second season in 2027.

Armytage’s decision to launch independently also puts her in direct competition with established podcast operators.

Rowe’s show moved from LiSTNR to independent network DM Podcasts earlier this year, expanding into full video episodes on YouTube.

The move reflects the growing importance of video in a market where celebrity interviews are increasingly designed to attract viewers as well as traditional audio listeners.

Armytage appears to be pursuing a similar strategy, with Act Two conceived as a TV-style interview series rather than a conventional audio-only podcast.

Act Two with Samantha Armytage launches Wednesday, October 14, with Rebel Wilson as its first guest.

The Daily Mail has contacted Armytage and Rowe for comment.

O’Keefe’s day in court (again)

Even when Andrew O’Keefe is apparently behaving himself, he can’t seem to stay out of court.

Two years after the fallen game show host was made the subject of a 24-month apprehended violence order, that AVO is still hanging around his neck.

The order was made to protect a woman we can’t name on October 10, 2024, by the no-nonsense Waverley judge Jacqueline Milledge, one of Inside Mail’s favourite judicial officers.

On the face of it, the AVO should have expired last weekend, but is back for a listing to be varied or revoked on October 21 at Downing Centre Local Court.

We asked O’Keefe if he knew why the AVO matter was ongoing. He said he was ‘stumped’ before later adding: ‘Unless I’m served with any notice from police about it, I don’t think I’ll attend.’

O’Keefe has a history of domestic violence, driving and drug offences and over the years has had short stints in custody. But he has kept his nose clean of late as he gets his life back in order.

That’s just as well because when O’Keefe last faced Milledge for breaching an AVO she put the former Deal or No Deal presenter on a CCO for 30 months.

She also hit him with a stack of fines: $2,000 for driving with an illicit drug in his system, $500 for trespassing and $1,000 for possessing a prohibited drug.

As well as the fines and CCO, which runs until April next year, Milledge threatened to send O’Keefe to the big house if he didn’t clean his act up.

‘You have been given lots of opportunities to do something about your use of drugs,’ she told the now 54-year-old father of two sons and a daughter.

‘I can assure you the next step is jail. I’m not just saying that, I absolutely mean it.’

O’Keefe might have been keeping out of trouble with the law but he still has a knack for making headlines, as he did in Inside Mail last month.

On that occasion we reported O’Keefe’s denial he was responsible for a series of randy messages sent to scantily clad women (some of whom appeared to be bots) on his public Threads account.

O’Keefe acknowledged the horny posts had appeared on his account but insisted he hadn’t written any of them, despite several including his mobile phone number.

His phone, he said, had been stolen earlier this year and a range of personal accounts had subsequently been compromised. Case closed – that’s good enough for us.

But what caught Inside Mail’s attention in the messages was the spelling and grammatical errors, as much as some of the spectacularly explicit content.

While accepting some of the wording was similar to online comments he had previously made, O’Keefe was appalled anyone could suggest he might be responsible for ‘such leaden, lazy, boorish slop’.

Sour grapes

The metro rating results last week seem to have led to a case of sour grapes in Brisbane after AM radio station 4BH took the number 1 position with a 12.3 per cent share, beating FM rival Triple M on 11.3.

It was an impressive win for a low-cost station up against some very big players. And it seems industry types in Brisbane are not happy with the result.

4BH is a low-cost broadcaster that sees breakfast presenter, BBQ Bob Gallagher, present his show from his garage, while his rivals have expensive studios scattered throughout Brisbane.

Some executives have been telling anyone who will listen that 4BH’s number one position won’t last and they’re only in that position because the oldies who listen to the station never turn off the radio.

It’s true that 4BH listeners are rusted on and spend a lot of time listening to the station.

Spencer Howson is a former breakfast host for ABC Brisbane and spent many years as the number one show in the city. On a recent edition of Media McKnight he explained that 4BH’s strength is indeed the amount of Time Spent Listening (TSL) compared to other stations.

‘A 4BH listener listens for 12 hours and 22 minutes a week,’ he revealed.

‘Now, the second best in terms of time spent listening is 4BC with nine hours and 30 minutes.’

But here’s the rub.

Both AM stations do attract listeners who hang around longer, but while 4BH delivered a 12.3 per cent share, 4BC could only manage 4.1 per cent. The low ratings at the Tapt-owned station are leading many insiders to believe more programs will be networked from Sydney, replacing local programming in 2027.

4BH is king of time spent listening and has more listeners than 4BC, which is embarrassing when you consider 4BH is leased from Tapt and has always been considered something of a joke.

The naysayers on the FM dial might want to write off the achievement by 4BH, but there’s no doubt the station is filling a gap in the market.

And, of course, the sniggering within the industry mainly comes from those who have to justify their own failures by putting down the remarkable achievement of 4BH.

So, why the reaction?

It’s because the station has broken the rules.

It’s okay for the number one crown to be shared by the big players, but how dare a little player like 4BH muscle in?

It’s classic entitlement and arrogance. And it’s why old media is dying.

4BH saw a hole in the market and filled it.

While FM continues to chase younger audiences and 4BC continues to try to work out what it is, the little station that could is not only going strong – it’s winning.

And boy, does that upset people.

Bad neighbours 

• Opinion by Rob McKnight 

When you have hours of footage of one of the world’s biggest stars in her first big TV show, what do you do with it?

Cut it down, exploit it and try to profit from it of course!

That’s what’s happening to our very own Margot Robbie, with news old episodes of Neighbours are being cut down into short vertical episodes focused on her character Donna Freedman for a streaming service called Epsis.

Robbie appeared in the now-defunct soap opera from 2008 to 2011 before rising to international stardom in films such as Barbie and The Wolf of Wall Street.

So, it’s probably no surprise the production company behind Neighbours – Fremantle – is trying to cash in.

The problem for Robbie is she has no say in how footage featuring her is used and will receive no additional payments. The material is owned by Fremantle and contracts for Aussie actors don’t usually include back-end deals for future sales. 

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Instead, the actors were typically paid up-front.

Now, while no-one will be worried about Robbie’s sizable bank account (in 2023 she was the world’s highest-paid actress), it does raise concerns over the use of someone’s likeness long after they have left a TV show.

Historically, old clips of a big Hollywood star in commercials for old TV shows might be shown on a chat show like Graham Norton’s in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it moment used for a laugh. But now Robbie’s episodes will not only continue to be played, they will be played out of context and sold on her stardom.

It’s very different to find the full episodes being available to stream; these episodes are specifically being uploaded and sold on Margot Robbie – international actress.

The fact that it is tied into the Neighbours brand is secondary.

So, does Robbie deserve a cut of the profits? Morally, yes. Legally, no.

While the short episodes might be embarrassing for Robbie, who has no doubt refined her acting craft since those early days in Neighbours, there is nothing she can do about her old employers exploiting her fame.

And that’s what it is.

These episodes are only being uploaded to sell subscriptions based on the star power of Robbie. You’d think she deserves something.

Unions versus TV stations

Opinion by Rob McKnight 

As television stations face major financial pressures, staff are being asked to do more with less. That’s leading those very same staff members to unionise and work together for better pay and conditions.

But staff joining unions will have pros and cons.

Pushed too far to deliver better pay and conditions will most likely result in more redundancies.

Channel 9 is currently facing off against staff after an information session about new contracts led to major concerns about new clauses being added.

Nine has denied some of the claims, including a belief staff will be expected to come in on their days off to cover shortages without being paid for their time.

But that was the clear message staff members came away with, forcing them to seek out union memberships.

As a result, many staff have still not received contracts that were originally expected to be signed by October 18.

If Nine’s staff unionise and strike in a standoff against management, there will be no winners. Despite strong ratings, advertisers are ignoring traditional television, instead funnelling their money to the big overseas tech platforms.

It’s leaving a huge financial hole in the local industry, which is why we are constantly hearing about staff cuts and new models like Nine’s ‘Future News’.

So what can a union do?

Traditionally, unions hold a lot of power to force change in big organisations, but television has largely been a union-free zone. Having said that, there’s no doubt scared staff are prepared to join up and work together to secure future employment.

But there’s only so much the unions will be able to accomplish as the money just isn’t there.

Now, TV stations still make big money but it also costs a LOT of money to make television. Networks are having to use clever accounting methods to keep their current slate of shows running. Production on Farmer Wants a Wife was sensationally halted recently so that its budget could be pushed into the next financial year.

That’s how tough things are getting.

It’s possible Nine is expecting too much from staff under its new proposals and the messaging certainly hasn’t been clear, but any solution will have to be a compromise.

Staff have to understand the world has changed and they do need to be able to multi-skill, but Nine needs to understand when it has pushed its ideas too far.

Unless they work together, everyone will lose.

The issues that matter

Labor is suffering in the opinion polls with the rise of One Nation but there’s only one poll that really matters, as far as Inside Mail is concerned.

Samuel Marles, the boxer son of deputy PM Richard Marles, recently canvassed his Instagram followers for their views on Australia’s weed crisis.

Apparently, for those who partake (not us!), the medicinal stuff from your local Dr Feelgood is hitting way too hard these days.

‘Is it just me or is this new age medical-grade weed way too strong! What happened to good old-fashioned bush weed. Subtle buzz and go on with your day.’

Eighty-six per cent of the pugilist’s followers agreed the new strains were leaving them uncomfortably zonked.

‘I’m glad it’s not just me,’ replied Marles Jr.

Maiden’s [REDACTED] audio   

Canberra veteran Sam Maiden had an ‘uh-oh’ after she accidentally sent a voice message to the Prime Minister’s media WhatsApp group, whose members include more than 200 of Australia’s most prominent (and gossipy) political journalists.

The Insiders regular mistakenly posted a 45-second audio recording to the chat on Tuesday.

The dream, of course, was that she had dropped something wildly indiscreet into the wrong group chat. Alas, no. The recording appeared to capture nothing more than the sounds of her working away at her desk.

The audio file was swiftly deleted, but not before fellow journalists seized the opportunity for a little of what passes for Press Gallery humour. 

‘You make a good point,’ one journalist quipped.

‘Fascinating,’ another replied.

The UWU gets noticed 

One of Australia’s most left-wing unions was left scrambling after advertisements attacking the Coalition and One Nation were spotted on The Noticer, a publication known for running decidedly unprogressive commentary.

The United Workers Union found itself in the awkward position of appearing alongside opinion pieces with headlines such as ‘How leftism is destroying fertility – and what can be done’ and ‘Leftists are purging normal people from the workplace’.

The union quickly distanced itself from the placements, blaming Google’s advertising system for serving its ads on the site.

‘These advertisements were placed through the Google Display Network,’ a spokesperson told Inside Mail. 

‘Apart from dealing with Google to place advertisements, we never requested the placements you have advised us about, and they seem to raise serious integrity concerns on the part of Google’s systems.

‘We are reviewing our display settings and placements in the light of this information, and as part of our ongoing monitoring processes.’

Kram shades Pauline 

Parliament House briefly turned into a rock venue on Monday as legendary Australian band Spiderbait performed a short set in one of its courtyards. 

The performance marked the 40th anniversary of the ARIA Awards, with Spiderbait among this year’s inductees into the ARIA Hall of Fame. The band treated MPs, staff and guests to several of its best-known hits, including Black Betty and Calypso.

The event took an unsurprisingly political turn when drummer Kram, whose real name is Mark Maher, reflected on the band’s roots in the regional NSW electorate of Farrer, where Spiderbait was formed.

He then took aim at the electorate’s current representative, One Nation MP David Farley, who won the seat following Sussan Ley’s resignation.

‘We don’t want One Nation anywhere near there,’ he told the crowd.

The remark is likely to irk some One Nation supporters, many of whom have no doubt spent years singing along to the band on Triple M. 

Spiderbait also delivered a message to Labor, calling on the Albanese government to better protect artists’ intellectual property from artificial intelligence.

Janet English drove the point home by performing in a T-shirt bearing the blunt slogan: ‘FK AI’.  

A remote working arrangement? 

More drama is swirling around Woollahra Council, with Paddington Ward councillor Alexander Andruska attracting fresh attention over where exactly he’s been carrying out his duties.

Council records show Andruska attended Woollahra’s August meeting via Zoom, departing at 9.15pm, before returning in person for the council’s July and September meetings.

On its face, there’s nothing unusual about a councillor dialling in remotely. 

But in Sydney’s most politically combustible council chamber, even routine attendance records are now attracting scrutiny, with one source claiming that he has been spending his time between Sydney… and another location.

But Andruska hit back, saying that he was visiting his partner who is based on the Gold Coast.  

‘I had a medical appointment that I needed to attend with my partner,’ he told Inside Mail.

He also slammed his banning from meeting on Zoom on Monday, revealing he did in fact advise them that he was interstate at the time.

‘I sent them an email. Very disappointing behaviour on [the Councillor’s] part. I was in the Gold Coast on Friday but I have not relocated there,’ he said. 

The interest in Andruska extends well beyond local government.

Before entering public office, Andruska spent more than a decade as one of the most senior figures inside hospitality entrepreneur Jon Adgemis‘ sprawling empire.

As chief financial officer of both Public Hospitality Group and Adgemis’ investment vehicle JAGA, Andruska was effectively a permanent fixture at the sharp end of a business network that would eventually implode under the weight of roughly $1.8billion in debts.

In recent weeks, he has emerged as one of the most closely watched witnesses in Federal Court examinations into Adgemis’ collapsed empire.

He spent around 14 years inside the organisation, serving as one of Adgemis’ most trusted lieutenants and occupying a front-row seat as the empire expanded, borrowed and ultimately unravelled.

His transition from Adgemis’ money man to Woollahra councillor has been a surprisingly smooth one… but the sound of sharpening knives is growing louder.

Ockoberfest in Parliament 

Canberra got a little more Bavarian on Wednesday night, with Liberal MP and Shadow Cabinet Secretary Zoe McKenzie hosting Parliament’s Oktoberfest celebrations.

Dressed to the (neins) in traditional Bavarian attire, McKenzie threw herself into the festivities, taking to the microphone to deliver part of her address in German, impressing guests with her language skills.

McKenzie studied Law and Arts at the University of Melbourne, where she specialised in French, German and Spanish as part of her arts degree, giving her the perfect credentials to play host for the German-themed evening.

Guests were treated to German beer and plenty of pretzels as they mingled at the event, while McKenzie also used the occasion to back the proposed Australia-European Union free trade agreement (urging her National Party colleagues to do the same). 

It’s funny down south

It seems the Daily Mail can’t pull off a job in South Australia without causing a stir these days – though at least a grandmother didn’t pull a shotgun on us this time.

Senior reporter Karleigh Smith was in SA to bounce ‘bodies in the barrels’ murderer James Vlassakis at the Adelaide pre-release centre – his last step to freedom before becoming Australia’s first ever serial killer to get parole.

A Channel Nine cameraman had also been at the pre-release centre for two days. Smith noticed him watching her and the Mail’s photographer through binoculars.

It later emerged that a local SA media group chat was convinced the Mail were vigilantes there to get revenge on Vlassakis on behalf of his victims.

When the Nine man learned the news, the relief on his face was palpable.

P.S. That same camera operator whiled away the hours in the car park waiting for Vlassakis to emerge by ‘relentlessly’ playing a guitar with the driver’s side door open.