RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

I don't know how Renault are getting away scot free in this.

Renaults relationship is with RTE, not Ryan Tubridy.

They facilitated this deception.

I know this will probably shock a few people on here but believe it or not I actually didn't mind DWTS.......at first. I did an awful lot of dance as a child and still have a fondness for it. I used to watch the BBC's Strictly Come Dancing when it was an actual dance competition - before the celebs came into it and dumbed it down a bit too much.

On that basis I was willing to give the Irish version a chance. As Irish versions go it wasn't atrocious, and did unearth a genuinely talented and likeable person in Julian Benson. Benson IMO would have made a great chat show host - he's very similar in personality type to Graham Norton and has an incredible ability to make everyone feel at ease without being patronizing. I know he has health issues but his enthusiasm is infectious and he oozes charisma and personality.

By contrast I couldn't put up with the absolute fakery that is Arthur (I can't spell his surname correctly and won't even try, and not interested in looking at google for it) and haven't watched much of the last two seasons with him in it - in fact I watched none of the most recent season (more anon). Any guesses who Arthur's Agent is?

Anyway, back to Lottie. That season was cut short and there was no audience for the last few rounds because of Covid. Lottie in the two shows preceding the final survived by the skin of her teeth with the judges having been last in the audience vote both weeks. Come the final and Lottie wins.....hmmm, so we're supposed to believe that having been last the previous 2 weeks with the audience for the final she suddenly was first? Let's just say it raised more than a few eyebrows. The final btw is an audience only vote.

It's hardly the greatest conspiracy of all time and pales in comparison to the current shenanigans, but it was commented on heavily at the time in the DWTS Thread.

But...as we're on the topic. Lottie was a trained dancer and how she was ever allowed into the competition in the first place was a complete joke.

And since then NKM have practically taken over it - again this has been widely commented on on this site in Radio and the DWTS Thread. With Garrihy hosting it and then Carl Mullan - her 2FM breakfast co-host - winning it, the show was farcical. Mullan was a terrible dancer and has little by way of personality to make him a vote getter, but miraculously, despite being 4th favourite out of 4 in the final.

DWTS also featured heavily on Tubridy’s radio show when the tv show is on air, particularly the Monday show after the previous night’s DWTS.

Now we'll never likely know if it was rigged or not, but let's just say I'd not be shocked to find out that a few people in a certain building in a certain part of town were busy texting on the night of both finals. If you think about it, it's a relatively small investment for a large reward. The winner gets a huge profile boost. A huge profile boost = more opportunities. More opportunities = more cash.