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Late Late Show star Patrick Kielty wants to host the smash hit chat show long-term despite the break-up of his marriage to Cat Deeley.
RTE executives are fully supportive of him and prepared to offer the chatterbox comedian a lucrative new deal when his current €250,000 a year contract expires next May, we can reveal.
Friends of the couple are adamant that Kielty, 54, working in Ireland had nothing to do with the marriage split and Paddy and Cat, 48, had effectively been living apart in the same house for over a year.
One source said: “He was spending on average two nights a week in Ireland. He would usually fly in on Thursday and do the show live on Friday nights, 30 times a year.
“He would then drive up north and do his BBC Five Live radio show on Saturday mornings from the Belfast studios and fly back to London afterwards.
“He still saw plenty of his wife and the two sons.
“The problem was the personal relationship between them just seemed to break down for whatever reasons. They are both strong personalities who speak their mind. Neither was seeing anyone else, there was definitely no third party involved.”
Paddy has now done two seasons of the Late Late Show since the departure of Ryan Tubridy.
RTE said he has been a roaring success and has completely stabilized and grown the ratings, which fluctuate between 400,000 to 500,000 a week now between the live audience and the RTE Player.
But crucially for the national broadcaster, advertisers and sponsors have come running back to its flagship No 1 show.
One RTE insider said: “Paddy Kielty has been like a breath of fresh air here.
“He has come in with his own ideas and transformed and improved the Late Late Show, making it relevant again.
“He has also improved the calibre of guests and he has no problem getting on the phone and persuading some top stars to come to Dublin.
“Absolutely no-one on the show knew he was having marital difficulties because he kept it to himself.
“When he comes to Dublin he is strictly business, extremely professional and doesn’t talk about his personal life.
“He hardly ever mentioned his wife during his two years here and she never came to Ireland to watch his show which is in itself very strange.
“All the Late Late team have great time for him because he is a very humble down to earth fella.
“Everyone is devastated that his marriage is over but in the high-stakes, highly-pressurised showbiz world, these things happen.”
Kielty has made it clear he really enjoys being back in Ireland and presenting The Late Late Show.
He has told friends he would like to renew his contract at the end of his three-year term and keep presenting the show – and top executives in RTE let him know privately they want to keep him.
RTE sources said any talks on a new deal haven’t started yet but they expect it to get sorted over the coming year. Kielty and Cat would have been married 13 years this September.
They lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills for several years after they tied the knot in Rome in 2012 while she presented the popular American show So You Think You Can Dance.
They and their two sons Milo, 9, and James, 7, returned to London in 2020.
Cat resurrected her TV career in the UK when she took over as co- presenter on the This Morning daytime show on ITV and Virgin Media along with Ben Shephard in March last year following the controversial departure of Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
The €600,000 a year job meant she was up at 5am and into the studio from Monday to Thursday every week.
No one suspected their marriage was on the rocks.
However, when Paddy’s mother Mary died in March, eyebrows were raised when Cat and the children didn’t show up for the funeral in his home village of Dundrum, Co Down.
His sons adored their Irish granny and spent their summers with her, with the elder lad playing Gaelic football.
The Late Late broadcaster is a very committed father and family man and will continue to live in London to be near his kids.
The RTE source added: “He will be back here in September when we go back on air and he will fly in and out from London doing his thing.
“Knowing Paddy he will give the show 110% and he won’t let this personal setback hamper his career.
“You can expect the new season of the Late Late to be bigger and better than ever.”
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