Imogen Anthony has given a detailed account of an explosive argument with her former partner Kyle Sandilands at the 2017 Burning Man festival that, she said, prompted a visit from federal agents.
Speaking on the A Bit Rogue podcast with host Skye Sydenham, Anthony, 34, said she and Sandilands, now 54, were staying in a rented RV with her best friend and an assistant when tensions flared and the dispute became "pretty intense." She recounted that her friend had taken mushrooms for the first time earlier that day, and that the group was suffering the general agitation common at the end of the festival.
"We got to Burning Man... my partner and I got into a huge argument," Anthony said on the podcast. "[It was] the agitation of the day – everyone had the s***s." She said the argument escalated inside the RV, with "things flying" and her friend "freaking out in the corner."
Anthony said Sandilands left the site in his car during the confrontation. "I don't know where he went, but he took off – having a tantrum as a lot of men do," she said. Minutes after his departure, she recalled, they noticed red and blue lights outside and were confronted by three FBI vehicles.
"They knocked on the RV and said they'd had complaints from surrounding camps about the domestic," Anthony said. She added that agents demanded entry, which alarmed the group because a bag of marijuana was visible on a table inside. According to Anthony, the agents checked and then left after determining there was no immediate threat; her assistant retrieved the bag while the agents stood outside the RV.
Sandilands returned shortly after the agents left, Anthony said, appearing unaware of the disturbance. "We're sitting in disbelief and my ex comes in and was like: 'I've calmed down now.' I was like: 'Do you know what we've just been through?'" she recalled.
Anthony and Sandilands were in a relationship for about nine years before splitting in 2019. Sandilands announced the breakup on his radio program, The Kyle and Jackie O Show, in November of that year. In the podcast interview, Anthony said the pair are on cordial terms. "We were together for a long time. Also, just disclosure as well, we're cool," she said.
Since the split, both have moved on. Anthony married Harley Jones in a Las Vegas ceremony in 2022 and, speaking to Daily Mail Australia at Australian Fashion Week in 2024, said she and Jones were not planning a more conventional ceremony and were not in a hurry to start a family. Sandilands married Tegan Kynaston in 2023; the couple welcomed a son, Otto, in August 2022.
Anthony's account on A Bit Rogue adds a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the couple's public relationship and underscores the occasionally intense atmosphere at large, communal festivals such as Burning Man. She did not say whether any formal reports were filed after the incident, and representatives for Sandilands did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The podcast appearance provided Anthony an opportunity to reflect on that period. "I had just turned 20. We split when I was almost 29. We were together for a long time," she said, noting that neither she nor Sandilands had expected the relationship's longevity when it began.
The Burning Man festival, held annually in Nevada's Black Rock Desert, is known for its large, temporary community and permissive environment; law enforcement and festival organizers have protocols for responding to reports from neighbouring camps. Anthony's recollection places the RV confrontation and subsequent law enforcement response amid that setting, describing a brief but dramatic episode that concluded without arrests or further public legal action.