This is not a drill: Chrissie Swan is returning to our radios.

It’s about bloody time.

In news that will make your Friday, your week and possibly your year, Chrissie Swan is returning to our radios.

The 41-year-old TV and radio personality, mother and generally fabulous human being is joining hosts Fifi Box and Dave Thornton on 101.9 The Fox’s breakfast radio show…. but only on Fridays.

Today was Chrissie’s first day in the studio hosting since she was (very publicly) sacked from her long-running successful breakfast show with Jane Hall last year. Chrissie spoke to Mamamia about what’s she’s got in store for 2015, her “extraordinary” partner and how she’s been sleep-deprived for 12 years running.

“It’s a tiny little segment, but it’s very exciting, I think mainly because I’m always friends with Fifi and Dave so it feels criminal to call it work. Being paid to gasbag is great fun,” Chrissie says about her new role. “I’ve known Dave the longest, he used to come on The Circle. And Fifi and I connected when we were both pregnant with our daughters”.

Fifi Box and Swan gave birth just three weeks apart and now they catch up for play dates with their daughters, both aged two.

“They’re very beautiful, the two girls. They’re so cute together. Every time they get together we’ve got about 7000 more photos on our iPhones!”

Her return to radio means that Chrissie is now competing against her former co-host Jane Hall in the Friday morning time slot, but she says there won’t be any rivalry.

“I don’t see it as ‘up against’. I’m in for half an hour on a Friday. There was never even rivalry between Fi [Box] and I, we’ve been friends for years and that whole time, we were technically on rival networks”.

“I’m not a very competitive person and I can’t talk for other states, but in Melbourne, we’re all friends. Which is weird. We all swap around! Kate [Langbroek] used to be on Nova, now she’s on Kiss. I used to be on Vega, then I was on Mix, now I’m on Fox. You can’t have rivalry when everyone’s moving all the time!”

Chrissie has already had a pretty full-on year, after spending six weeks in the African jungle to compete on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here. The separation from her children and family proved tougher than she ever imagined.

“The original plan before I went over was to stay a little longer and make the most of the time in South Africa after the show finished, but I was so desperate to get home that I left on the first flight out!” Chrissie tells us.

“I came home and it was about 7pm and the kids were with my mum. And their little minds were blown because they were so used to watching me in the television, and then there I was. It gave me a new respect for parents that work away all the time. It’s not for the fainthearted.”

While she was away, her partner held the fort at home, something – like many other men Chrissie knows – he’s always done.

“Our life would not survive without my children’s wonderful father and partner. He’s extraordinary, I cannot fault him. And my dad was pretty great too. Even boyfriends I’ve had, they weren’t this male stereotype you hear about. I’ve yet to meet one, to be honest. It’s like people that voted for Tony Abbott – you know they’re around but you’ve never met one!”

Chrissie made headlines by refusing to be weighed when was eliminated from I’m a Celebrity…, but she says she wasn’t trying to make any statement.

“I just didn’t think the show was about weight loss. I didn’t think it was about weight loss when I signed up and I didn’t think it was about weight loss when I was in there. I just thought it was unnecessary. Anyone could see we were starving!”

Her co-star, Merv Hughes, on the other hand, jumped on the scales enthusiastically, eager to see what months in the jungle could achieve.

“I think he lost 17kg or something… I’ve caught up with him a couple of times since and he is madly walking around the block trying to keep it off!”

Now that her days in the jungle are over, 2015 is all about doing “what feels right,” and, well, probably sleeping in.

“Breakfast radio is a super-fun job, it really is. But I did feel very tired. And that was impacting everything. You just can’t underestimate the feeling of being tired. The biggest thing for me is that I’m not tired for really the first time in 12 years!” she explains.

“I feel like I’ve come out of a coma in many ways. It’s so funny that such a seemingly insignificant thing as sleep really affects everything in your life.”

We don’t know about you, but we’re ridiculously excited that Chrissie Swan is willing to rise early every Friday so we can hear her voice on the radio. It’s about bloody time.

If this post made you feel like looking at a bunch of photos of Chrissie, we’ve got you covered.