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Dublin Live
Dublin Live
National
Sandra Mallon

RTE receives thirteen complaints over Tommy Tiernan Show which featured interview with Amy Huberman

RTE received 13 complaints over Tommy Tiernan’s chat show on Saturday night.

418,000 people tuned into the RTE One show and the national broadcaster says it received 13 calls and emails complaining about the episode.

A spokesman said: “RTÉ received nine emails and four calls from members of the public who were unhappy with the elements of the programme."

RTE didn't specify what the complaints were about but the comedian already received backlash at the weekend over his questions to actress Amy Huberman.

Some viewers claimed they were left “uncomfortable” after Tommy tried to ask Amy about her sex life with her former Ireland rugby captain husband Brian O’Driscoll.

Amy Huberman on the Tommy Tiernan Show (RTE)

Speaking to the comedian, Amy discussed how she balances her work life as a mum-of-three, her Jewish ancestry, and how marrying a sportsman helped her to add discipline and routine to her life.

But things took a turn when Tommy changed the subject and asked the actor about her sex life, saying: “Without incriminating the people that we live with, I wonder could we talk about sex?”

After receiving a laugh from an embarrassed Amy, Tommy continued: “I’m much more interested now in intimacy and shared, physical space with my wife and sex can be a part of that.

“It’s not something you often hear Irish men in their 50s say, but it’s really important for me to be able to spend that time with my wife being physically intimate. But that’s not necessarily about sex.”

Amy replied: “And that’s that conversation dealt with.”

He then asked if her sex life is different now to how it was when she was younger before, adding: “If it’s an unfair question, we can leave it.”

The Dubliner decided to answer the question, focusing more on the importance of human touch and loving the people around you, but viewers were outraged that she had been asked such an intrusive question.

A horde of people took to Twitter to complain about the interview and said it left them “cringing.”

One person wrote: “Hugely creepy interview from Tommy Tiernan last night with Amy Huberman as he questioned her about sex. She handled it brilliantly though.”

Another said: “Where did the shift in this conversation come from? Awk-werd. I'm cringing!”

While a third penned: “Tommy had a very rare misstep tonight with Amy Huberman and a question about sex. Awkward to watch but she handled it well.”

And another added: “V inappropriate question poor Amy H. Trying to answer the question and she shut it down and he brought it up again, even though she didn't want to answer. Not nice.”

Meanwhile, RTE said an average of 413,000 watched Friday night’s Late Late Show - but Dermot Bannon’s Room To Improve trumped them all as an average 427,400 watched Sunday night’s second episode.

A spokesman for RTE said: "The Late Late Show was watched by an average of 413,000 across RTÉ One and RTÉ One+1. Friday night's show reached a peak viewership of 442,400 on RTÉ One and on RTÉ Player, there were 13,700 streams across the weekend.

"Room to Improve was watched by an average audience of 427,400 across RTÉ One and RTÉ One+1.

“The episode had an average peak viewership of 458,000 viewers on RTÉ One and 9,500 streams on RTÉ Player since last night's broadcast."

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