Marty Whelan has built up quite a reputation after decades of work on the likes of Fame and Fortune, Eurovision and of course Winning Streak.
His portfolio since first hitting the airwaves and screens in the late 1970's is not to be sniffed at many tributes have been paid to him over the years.
That includes one man, who last week got a tattoo of Marty Whelan's face on his leg.
Phil O’Kelly revealed on Twitter how he had lost a bet in Fantasy Football and had to get a tattoo of the popular Winning Streak presenter as a result.
He explained: “Foolishly I made a bet with my friend Tom at the start of the football season”, to which Marty quipped: “This is a fantasy football thing you do?”.
Phil, who works for Spinal Injuries Ireland, went on to say: “He made the offer, I said no. I thought it was a crazy idea and then a couple of weeks later and I had a few more pints in me so I decided 'do you know that might be a good idea.' So we did it for the season, it went to the wire and he pipped me on the last day.”
But Phil admitted he didn’t choose Marty as his tattoo but instead it was his pal.
The ink is seven inches on his leg, with Phil admitting: “I was suggesting to get a lot smaller, but we wouldn’t have caught the sparkle in your eyes.”
And now, Marty has managed to smile at the tatt in person - after he met Phil over the weekend.
The Sunday World organised the meet-up, with Marty laughing: “I thought that having Michael Bublé serenade me on my birthday at his show in the 3Arena was the pinnacle of my career, but now this tops it all.
"This is the most unusual thing that has ever happened to me, because you couldn’t possibly dream that someone would want a tattoo of me permanently on his leg.
"No matter what he does now I’m there, and technically he should be inviting me to family dos from now on.”
READ NEXT:
