‘I’ve been holding a grudge’: Merrick Watts hasn’t spoken to Tim Ross for TWO YEARS after his old radio partner turned down ‘an enormous amount of money’ to reform
Merrick Watts still holds a grudge against his former radio partner Tim Ross.
The comedian, 46, said on Monday’s episode of Hughesy, We Have a Problem that a ‘communication issue’ relating to money had caused their rift.
He claimed the pair had been offered ‘an enormous amount of money’ to reform Merrick and Rosso in November 2018, but Tim brushed off the opportunity.
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‘I’ve been holding a grudge’: Merrick Watts (left) reveals he hasn’t spoken to Tim Ross (right) since 2018 after turning down ‘an enormous amount of money’ to reform Merrick and Rosso. Pictured in 2007
‘To be completely honest, there is a grudge. I‘ve been holding a grudge for a period of time now,’ he admitted.
Merrick and Rosso were one of Australia’s most popular radio partnerships for years. They joined forces on Triple J in 1998 and last worked together on Triple M in 2009.
Despite their phenomenal success, there have been long-standing rumours of a feud between the pair.
When they parted ways in 2009, Merrick said: ‘This has nothing to do with Rosso and I not liking each other. No fights, there’s no carry-on, there’s nothing like that.’
However, other sources in the radio industry said at the time that Tim was jealous of Merrick’s success as a solo performer.
In happier times: Merrick and Rosso are one of the nation’s highest-rating radio pairs of the past 20 years. Pictured in 2008
Feud? Other radio sources said in 2009 that Tim had some degree of jealousy of Merrick’s greater solo successes. Pictured: Tim Ross on The Project in 2017
Merrick said Monday that he and Tim hadn’t spoken for almost two years after he asked his former co-host if they wanted to meet up to discuss an ‘extraordinary offer’ to get back together.
He said a radio station had offered them ‘more money than [they’d] ever seen’ before in their 20 years in the business.
Merrick claimed that Tim had said he would call him back after getting a haircut but ‘he never called me back – and that was in November 2018!’
In response to these claims, Tim told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: ‘From what I can gather from my mate Johnnie, who is the EP of [Hughesy, We Have a Problem], Mez told a funny story on TV.
‘He is, and has always been, an exceptional comedian and I’m sure the story was hilarious. If he called me a f**khead on Q&A on the other hand, I’d be on the phone to David Anderson at the ABC and demanding an apology.’
‘He never called me back… and that was in November 2018!’ Merrick (right) said he asked Rosso (left) to meet with him to discuss the mystery station’s ‘extraordinary offer’ to get back together, but he never did. Pictured in 2017
It’s unclear which radio role Merrick was offered in late 2018.
However, around the same time, Em Rusciano quit 2DAY FM in September 2018 and its new Breakfast show with Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee had the lowest breakfast audience share at the time. They announced Ash London would join the trio permanently in December 2018.
Interestingly, Em was sitting next to Merrick when he broke the news on Hughesy, We Have A Problem.
Did 2DAY FM make the offer? Just months before Merrick and Rosso’s mysterious November 2018 offer, Em Rusciano (pictured) quit 2DAY FM in September and its new Breakfast show with Grant Denyer and Ed Kavalee had the lowest breakfast audience share at the time. They announced Ash London would join the trio permanently in December 2018