A FREEDOM OF Information request has turned up an interesting fact about RTE1′s two main chat shows – it cost more to stock the Saturday Night Show with guests than it did on the Late Late Show.

Barry Moran in the Irish Sun (print edition) notes that RTE shelled out €135,459 for guests on Brendan O’Connor’s Saturday night gig. The station paid €129,859 on guests for the Ryan Tubridy-hosted Late Late. An RTE spokesman told Moran that “in general RTE pays for guests to appear on their prime-time chat shows” but that those promoting a film, book, programme etc. don’t receive a fee.

To this end, the likes of Ronan Keating, the parents of Madeleine McCann and Nadine Coyle did not receive a fee for their Late Late appearances.

It is not, however, known whether had to shell out an extra fee to host Brendan O’Connor to do his Elvis turn on his last Saturday Night Show of the season…

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More

Read more from Barry Moran in today’s Irish Sun (print edition)>

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.