Radio presenter Mel Greig has come back to radio three years after the tragic “royal prank” incident.
Greig has joined 96.5 WaveFM in Wollongong as a breakfast presenter alongside Travis Winks.
The station announced her return via Facebook, with many of the Facebook comments positive and supportive of Greig.
Well-known radio duo Kyle & Jackie O (Kyle Sandilands and Jackie Henderson) rang up the show to welcome Greig back on-air.
Sandilands had some advice for Greig and Winks: “It’s one of those things, from time to time you make some mistakes and you can either ride the wave out and keep doing what you do. Or you can bury your head in the sand, like what Mel did, and disappear for years. And come back a stronger person.”
“I think it’s great that you guys have given Mel a chance,” chimed in Henderson.
And Sandilands last piece of advice: “Don’t sleep with each other!”
Another radio presenter, Sophie Monk, also welcomed Greig back.
Of her return, Greig told Radio Today: “Today I returned to radio at Wave FM with my new co-host Travis Winks after three years off the air, I’m so proud and grateful to be back doing what I love. It was an incredible feeling to have such influential celebrities throw their support behind me too, this morning.”
The “Royal Prank” stunt made headlines in 2012 when Greig and her then co-host Michael Christian pretended to be Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles trying to speak to the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton.
The Duchess was in hospital at the time due to morning sickness with her first child and Greig and Christian called the hospital asking to speak to her in fake British accents.
The duo managed to obtain details of the Duchess’s health from a nurse. One of the nurses involved tragically committed suicide not long after the incident.
Southern Cross Austereo, the network which aired the piece on station 2DayFm, has since seen the station’s future wobbly as the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) contemplated taking the station off-air for a while as punishment.
However, the outcome saw 2DayFM required to air a three-hour special program to promote media ethics and raise awareness of the risk of bullying, depression and anxiety.
Read more about the “Royal Prank” here.
