Merrick Watts has opened up about his “brutal” split with longtime comedy partner Tim “Rosso” Ross.
‘Merrick and Rosso’ were best known for their radio shows on Triple J, Nova and Triple M, but the comedy duo shocked their listeners when they split in 2009 after more than a decade together.
‘Rosso and I broke up, we broke up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was hard. It’s not really something I talk about a lot… but it was really devastating at the time,” he told SAS Australia presenter Ant Middleton on his Head Game podcast on Tuesday.
“I was focused on wanting to follow a certain trajectory that I innately felt was the right path to follow and that was probably in conflict with the way we did things and the way we worked together.”
The comedian said he felt like the collaboration between him and his partner had come to an end at that point.
Merrick Watts has opened up about the ‘rift’ between him and his longtime comedy partner, Tim ‘Rosso’ Ross.
“I think we just burned out as a unit and did it all, including living together, and then I started my own family and had different priorities,” she said.
Ant suggested that Watts’ change of priorities was likely due to the arrival of his first child, Wolfe, in 2009.
“I kind of wanted to carve out my own identity… which I thought would be a lot easier than it was,” Watts added.
The podcast interview was not the first time Watts met Ant, as the pair met at SAS Australia in 2020.
Watts said Middleton helped him achieve “the best physical and mental state I’ve ever been in in my entire life.”
Speaking candidly at the time, she said she struggled with anxiety and depression before appearing on the grueling Channel Seven series.
‘Rosso and I broke up, we broke up at the end of 2009. It was brutal, it was hard. It’s not really something I talk about a lot… but it was really devastating at the time,” he told SAS Australia host Ant Middleton on his Head Game podcast on Tuesday.
Ant suggested that Watts’ change of priorities was likely due to the arrival of his first child, Wolfe, in 2009.
The father-of-two said he had been in the “worst mental state” of his life and not even a psychologist or a 10-week meditation course could help him.
“I felt like I was wearing myself out,” Watts said during an interview with Nova’s Fitzy and Wippa.
‘I did all the right things, I spoke to a psychologist, I spoke to my doctor, I did a 10-week meditation course. Nothing worked. “I know what I needed was to get my confidence back.”
Watts said he knew joining SAS Australia would help him “rebuild his confidence”.
‘When I am confident I am very, very capable. “When I don’t have confidence, I go back into my shell… I knew that just the preparation process for SAS Australia would be enough to regain my confidence and I was right,” he explained.
‘I look at myself a year ago and when I signed up for this program I was in the worst mental state I’ve ever been in. I look at myself a year later and I am in the best physical and mental state I have ever been in. I have been in my entire life.
And he concluded: ‘It has been extraordinarily good for my mind and my body.’
Watts starred in SAS Australia in 2020. Pictured in the show