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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Entertainment
Sandra Mallon

Virgin Media star emerges as latest name linked to RTE Late Late Show host job

Virgin Media star Ciara Doherty is the latest name in the list of women tipped to take over The Late Late Show role.

BoyleSports say The Tonight Show host has gone to 50-1 from 200-1 to sit in Ryan Tubridy’s vacated chair.

Support for women has been very strong with Claire Byrne 2-5 favourite.

Read More: Doireann Garrihy says she isn't eyeing up Ryan Tubridy's Late Late Show job

BoyleSports’ Sarah Kinsella said: “Just when we thought things had started to quieten down support arrived for Ciara this morning... but she has a lot of ground to catch up with Claire Byrne.”

Meanwhile, it's been revealed RTE could use politicians to act as 'dummy guests' for fake interviews to screen test the next Late Late Show host, something Ciara would be very comfortable with.

TV insiders have revealed to us the process of how RTE telly bosses pick the next host.

While Claire Byrne has been named as the frontrunner for the job – if RTE bosses want to look further afield, we reveal what the audition process is like for the potential candidate.

Sources reveal how minor politicians are used as guinea pigs for fake interviews.

An RTE insider said: “They would do pilot things with dummy guests. They mock up a set but they might even use the Late Late set but they wouldn’t have to…so they could see how someone would introduce guests doing intro and how they might interact with somebody out of their comfort zone.

“You’ll always get politicians - not the major ones - who will help out in the process.

“The people they are looking at within RTE will be people with experience.

“They know Claire Byrne has done the Claire Byrne Tonight show. On radio she does a mixture of things.

“They might not even ask someone like Claire Byrne to audition.

“But if they were going outside the predictable people…..Unless they have already made up their mind.”

It is understood the candidate doesn’t have to wait too long to find out whether or not they got the job.

“No, I would say they will ask people if they are willing to do this audition pilot and then they will fairly quickly make a decision,” added the source.

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