Future relationship of ‘best mates’ Tommy Little and Carrie Bickmore under the microscope as she quits their radio show amid years of romance rumours

Tommy Little and Carrie Bickmore have always made it clear that they are more than co-workers, and indeed the best of friends. 

The close bond between the pair, who have been the subject of consistent romance rumours in recent years, is now being tested after Bickmore announced her departure from their Hit Network Carrie & Tommy radio show on Wednesday. 

Working side-by-side for almost a decade, Carrie, 45, and Tommy, 41, neither of whom have dated anyone publicly for several years, have a flirty chemistry that has led to endless whispers about the nature of their closeness. 

While they’ve continued to deny that they are more than friends, holidays away together and suggestive social media exchanges have kept the rumour mill running. 

The pair have made several social appearances together over the past two years, including enjoying a trip to Uluru together in February 2025.

In March that same year, Tommy had tongues wagging when he made suggestive jokes at his co-star’s expense during The Roast of Carrie Bickmore. 

During the roast, Tommy declared Carrie ‘looks better and better’ every day.

‘She’s just getting hotter and hotter, and if you want to know what’s her secret: cosmetic surgery,’ he joked.

In September, they enjoyed an idyllic Queensland getaway, a bikini-clad Bickmore documenting the trip with Tommy by her side. 

In February this year, they cuddled up at the LIV Golf tournament in Adelaide. 

Carrie posted a sweet snap on Instagram at the time, showing Tommy and her embracing and smiling at the event. 

That same month, they attended the wedding of their colleague Jesse Watkins together, posing for selfies side by side. 

Romance rumours between the pair began after Carrie’s very public split from longtime partner Chris Walker in 2023. 

The television star announced their split in an Instagram post, saying the pair were focused on co-parenting their children. 

Tommy was last linked to environmental activist Natalie Kyriacou in 2021. 

The pals have flippantly addressed the persistent commentary on the nature of their relationship over the years with good-natured rebuttals.   

‘There have been romance rumours about Carrie and I, but unfortunately, because Carrie is in my age bracket (my Tinder age bracket is legal to dead), I’m not in Carrie’s age bracket. She only likes much older, powerful men,’ Tommy once joked. 

Last year, Tommy said Carrie is ‘one of my best mates’, while Carrie has stressed how well they work together and implied she is single. 

Whether the ‘best friends’ can survive without working together five days a week remains to be seen. 

Their professional relationship will come to an end in a matter of months, after it was announced on Wednesday that Carrie and Tommy have canned their popular Hit Network radio show.  

After almost ten years on the air together, the hosts of the Carrie & Tommy show are calling time on the drive-time program, with news of the exit breaking on Wednesday. 

The high-rating, long-running series, which is the third most-listened-to network radio program in Australia, is expected to wrap up by year’s end. 

Bickmore is believed to be defecting to rival station KIIS FM, where she will replace Will McMahon and Woody Whitelaw, who front the Will & Woody drive-time show. 

Bickmore tearfully announced her departure during Wednesday’s afternoon broadcast. 

‘I’ve loved every minute of doing the show,’ the emotional host told listeners.

‘It’s not every day you get to come and have a laugh and call it your job with your best mate and the funniest guy in the country, and that’s what we’ve got to do for the last decade.’

Little called the ending of their partnership ‘really sad’.  

‘It’s certainly not how I wanted it to end. I love this job, and I would have kept doing it for a long time,’ he said. 

‘But I don’t always get my way, and I feel very grateful. I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity. I think we’ve had an amazing job to do.’

Matthew O’Reilly, SCA’s head of broadcast content, thanked ‘everyone who worked on the show, pouring their energy, creativity, and passion into making it what it is today’ in an internal email obtained by the Daily Telegraph. 

‘Carrie Bickmore and Tommy Little have built a loyal audience through their genuine friendship, big laughs and their own unique take on the ordinary,’ he wrote.

‘From caravanning across Queensland to surprising lucky listeners with once-in-a-lifetime trips to Paris, running a South African marathon for Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation or braving their icy Tassie lake plunge, Carrie and Tommy have constantly taken their audience along for the ride. 

‘Throw in their annual “Roast” and legendary “Mystery Bus” tours, and they have kept their fans laughing year after year.

‘Over the next few weeks, we look forward to celebrating everything Carrie and Tommy have given to their listeners over the last 10 years.’

It’s a major blow for the Hit Network’s programming, with Carrie & Tommy broadcast in all major cities, including in Sydney, where it airs on 2Day FM, Melbourne, where it’s hosted by Fox, as well as being heard on Brisbane’s B105. 

Bickmore and Little have one of radio’s most high-profile partnerships, having hosted the 3pm to 6pm time slot together since 2017. 

Inside Mail broke the news last week that Bickmore was eyeing an exit from SCA following the company’s merger with Seven West Media. 

Despite Bickmore being popular with advertisers and listeners, apparently SCA is ‘quite happy to let her go’ to KIIS Drive.

Inside Mail was told that relations have cooled and there is ‘no love lost there’. 

Little’s future is less clear, amid murmurs of a bidding war between KIIS and the Hit Network.