Eoghan McDermott
Born (1983-04-15) 15 April 1983
Limerick, Ireland[1]
NationalityIrish
Other namesEoghan Mac Diarmada
Occupation(s)Presenter, actor, choreographer
Employer(s)Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)
Teilifís na Gaeilge (TG4)
Channel 5
Known forThe Voice of Ireland
The Eoghan McDermott Show
Love Island Australia
2FM Breakfast with Doireann and Eoghan

Eoghan McDermott (born 15 April 1983) is an Irish television and radio presenter. He has presented The RTÉ 2fm Breakfast Show on radio and hosted The Voice of Ireland and Ireland's Junior Eurovision Song Contest selection shows on television. He began his career presenting POP4, a music programme on TG4. He also hosted Xfm Drivetime on radio in the United Kingdom and has narrated Love Island Australia on television.

Early life

McDermott was born in Limerick but grew up in Dublin.[1] His father is Kevin McDermott, an author.[2] He is a middle child, the only boy either side of two sisters.[1] His younger sister, Roe McDermott, has written for Hot Press magazine.[1]

When younger, and before he had a career in the media, McDermott intended to become a Garda (police officer) or a schoolteacher.[3]

Career

Television

McDermott is a fluent speaker of the Irish language and originally started his media career on TG4's POP4, a music request and top 40 show. This was followed by a role in TG4's youth drama Seacht, in which he played the lead role of Pete. From here he progressed to POP4, a weekly chart music show with live bands.[4] Other presenting credits followed, including Frenemies – a youth debate game show for RTÉ2 and Immeal Geall, a bilingual magazine show for BBC Northern Ireland. He co-presented a series of The Movie Show on RTÉ2, which started in November 2012.[5]

In 2008, McDermott entered MTV UK's Pick Me MTV competition, but lost out to Laura Whitmore.[6]

In September 2013, McDermott had his UK television debut, fronting UK reality show Celebrity Super Spa for Channel 5. Other credits include a 2013 highlight show Totes Amazeballs and Next Year's News, a satirical comedy-panel show anticipating big news stories for the year ahead. Both series broadcast on RTÉ2. He has co-presented The Voice of Ireland with Kathryn Thomas since its inception.[7] For season 3 of The Voice, McDermott fronted a live spin-off show on RTÉ2. He filmed a new series entitled Drunk for RTÉ2 in summer 2014, examining the effects of alcohol on the body and mind.[8]

In 2015, he began hosting Junior Eurovision Eire, Ireland's national selection programme for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which he hosted from 2015 to 2019, Ireland did not participate in 2020 and Louise Cantillon replaced him as host in 2021.[9][10] He also filmed a pilot episode for a UK game show in Paris, which was made by the team behind Gogglebox.[11]

In June 2020, he hosted the telethon event RTÉ Does Comic Relief, held to raise funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

McDermott has also narrated the reality dating series Love Island Australia.[12] On 20 September 2020, ITV Australia announced Stephen Mullan would replace him on Love Island Australia as "the narrator".[13]

Acting

McDermott played the lead role of "DJ Pete" in all four series of the joint TG4/BBC Northern Ireland production, Seacht, a teen drama.[7] Of his time on Seacht, McDermott later said: "That's the beauty of starting on a channel that doesn’t have a huge audience: you can make a lot of mistakes that go under the radar".[3]

Choreography

McDermott completed his dance training at the Broadway Dance Center and has worked as a dancer and choreographer, supporting acts such as Rihanna, Pussycat Dolls and Chris Brown.[7]

Radio

McDermott started his radio career on a bi-lingual chart music show on Dublin radio station SPIN 1038 in 2009. He also co-presented the successful "Sunday Service" before being poached by Global Radio in the UK.

In 2011 he moved abroad to the UK, where he began duties as host of Drive Time with radio station XFM.[14] In his first year, McDermott's show was syndicated to XFM Manchester. Shortly after, he was nominated for "Best Newcomer" in the national commercial radio awards, sponsored by Arqiva.[15] In April 2012, The Guardian newspaper, whilst discussing the new appointment of Greg James on BBC Radio1 Drivetime, claimed McDermott's show was the best DriveTime radio show of its genre in the UK.[16][7]

His final show with the station aired on 21 December 2012. He said: "I left XFM because I had done it for two years. It is a great place to work with great people but I had had to turn down several pilots because of work. So I decided I wanted to focus on TV work and to do that I had to leave Xfm. And then I got Celebrity Super Spa."[17] It coincided with a management change and the departure of Mary Anne Hobbs to 6 Music and Breakfast presenter Danny Wallace – although in a Twitter post shortly after his departure McDermott noted his final listenership figures were a record high. Although online speculation suggested a move to BBC Radio 1, this never materialised.

In June 2014, it was announced that McDermott would present a show on RTÉ 2fm radio on the 7 – 10 am slot on Saturday and Sunday starting on 6 July.[18] Three months later, it was announced that he would stand in for Louise McSharry on the station's weekday evening slot for the next few months while she receives treatment for cancer.[19] In September 2015, McDermott took over from the Driveby show from Colm Hayes under a two-year contract.[20]

In June 2019, McDermott began presenting the new breakfast show on RTÉ 2fm alongside Doireann Garrihy.[21]

On 8 March 2021, RTÉ officially confirmed that McDermott had left his 2FM role after 3 weeks of "unplanned leave" and that he would not be returning due to the expiry of his contract.[22][23]

Mental health advocacy

McDermott gives talks throughout Ireland at various events about mental illness.[24] He made a video on the topic of self-harm for Pieta House in 2014, in which he referred to his own experience and later explained: "When you see first-hand what they are up to I thought it was a bit disingenuous to be preaching their merits without being honest about my own stuff... I'm not looking for praise, beyond feeling that it was worthwhile. You don't want to do that and have it go under the radar either. Not that you're looking for attention... If you feel you're going to put yourself out there... and you know you might upset people you're close to it's nice to feel it was worthwhile.".[24]

Personal life

On 2 March 2022, McDermott shared a letter on social media issued by solicitors representing a client who it said had "made false allegations against him", which "arose out of a relationship which they had some years previously." The letter went on to acknowledge that the client "was above the age of consent at all times that she and Mr McDermott met or engaged in a physical relationship, contrary to her original claim." McDermott said he hoped sharing the letter could "close this chapter."[25][26][27] McDermott subsequently deactivated his Twitter account.[28]

Filmography

Year Title Role
2003 Pop 4 Presenter
2010–2011 Seacht [3][7] DJ Pete
2011 Frenemies [29] Presenter
2012–2016 The Voice of Ireland[7] Co-presenter
2013 Celebrity Super Spa[17] Co-presenter
2015–2019 Junior Eurovision Eire Presenter
2018 Celebrity Home of the Year Contestant
2018–2020, 2022–2022 Love Island Australia[12] Narrator
2020 RTÉ Does Comic Relief Presenter

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Tyaransen, Olaf. "Eoghan McDermott Interview". Hot Press.
  2. ↑ Needham, Lucy (9 August 2018). "All you need to know about Love Island Australia's narrator Eoghan McDermott". Daily Mirror.
  3. 1 2 3 Fennell, Hilary (11 April 2015). "This much I know: Eoghan McDermott". Irish Examiner.
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHKotwUn2uw
  5. ↑ "Movie Show begins on RTÉ Two tonight". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 1 November 2012. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  6. ↑ Ryan, Ali (2 March 2015). "'Blast from the past' – Laura Whitmore shares throwback to Pick Me MTV". www.goss.ie. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "The presenters". RTÉ. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012.
  8. ↑ Kelly, Aoife (11 September 2014). "RTE2 autumn schedule – Eoghan McDermott, Darren Kennedy, and Jennifer Maguire dominate with two shows each". Irish Independent. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Ireland debuts in Junior Eurovision Song Contest". rte.ie. 5 October 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  10. ↑ "TG4 reveals its Autumn schedule". RTÉ TEN. 24 August 2021. Retrieved 25 August 2021.
  11. ↑ "Eoghan McDermott reveals new TV show shot in Paris". 13 October 2015.
  12. 1 2 Domjen, Briana (1 July 2018). "Love Island Australia narrator Eoghan McDermott reveals why he won't go on the dating show". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. Retrieved 28 July 2018.
  13. ↑ "Love Island Australia to return to Channel Nine on October 4th". mediaweek.com.au. 20 September 2021. Retrieved 20 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "RTE star Eoghan McDermott praises doctor girlfriend Aoife Melia: 'I almost feel like I've got an inferiority complex'". Irish Independent. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  15. ↑ "Nominations". Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  16. ↑ Dee, Johnny (3 April 2012). "What makes the perfect radio drivetime show?" – via www.theguardian.com.
  17. 1 2 Sweeney, Ken (17 July 2013). "Eoghan lands Celeb Spa TV gig". Herald.ie. 03:30
  18. ↑ "'I don't want to do bubble-gum, throwaway stuff'". Irish Independent. 20 June 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  19. ↑ "Louise McSharry takes 6 months off to beat cancer". Independent.ie.
  20. ↑ "Eoghan McDermott takes over 2fm drivetime show". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 23 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "There won't be 'competing egos' – Eoghan McDermott on new 2FM breakfast show with Doireann Garrihy". Irish Independent. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  22. ↑ "RTÉ confirms Eoghan McDermott will not return to 2FM". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 8 March 2021. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
  23. ↑ O'Brien, Mark. "Eoghan McDermott set to shockingly quit RTE 2FM after six years". Dublin Live. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  24. 1 2 Scully, Meghann. "Eoghan McDermott reveals he helped a teenager struggling with depression". www.goss.ie. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Eoghan McDermott: 'False allegations were made about me'". RTÉ News and Current Affairs. 2 March 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  26. ↑ Hilliard, Mark (2 March 2022). "Ex-RTÉ presenter seeks to clear name after 'false accusations'". The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  27. ↑ Finn, Melanie; Phelan, Shane (2 March 2022). "Eoghan McDermott accuser accepts she was at age of consent when they had physical relationship". Irish Independent. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  28. ↑ "Eoghan McDermott shuts down Twitter account one week after publishing legal letter". Sunday World. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2022.
  29. ↑ "Gorey teens to feature on RTE gameshow this week". Enniscorthy Guardian. 19 April 2011. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
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