Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE LATE LATE Show Valentine’s Special received 10 formal complaints, and hundreds of calls and emails with negative feedback since it aired on Friday.
This yearly edition of the show features an audience of single people from across the country looking to find love.
There was a version of Blind Date, a kiss cam on show and audience members were given a free hamper from Durex on Friday night’s programme.
There were also segments in which audience members asked some of their most pressing questions about sex, and another segment where a couple were plucked from the audience and ate an assortment of unpleasant things.
A statement from RTÉ confirmed that, along with the 10 formal complaints, the show received 176 calls and 120 emails “offering negative feedback about the programme”.
In regard to the formal complaints, all of them will be responded to within 20 days.
A total of 568,400 people tuned in to the show on Friday, with RTÉ One getting a 46% share of the audience that night.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Is it normal to grab a girl by the throat when you’re kissing her? Think I’ve been doing it wrong.
It’s all the rage since 50 Shades.
@Keith Fealy: When I seen that picture Psycho shower music started in my head.
I think it’s something to do with “The Implication”
@Keith Fealy: No the way he s doing it anyway. “Kiss me”….. “OK but will you let me go after”
@Keith Fealy: Do people subject to this drival? Tubs is so bad I wouldn’t watch it even if it guaranteed world peace
@Keith Fealy: It is with necrophilia?
The guy who sang with Linda Martin cursed like an absolute howya sailor on coke. I hate that panto sing along sh#te. The audience were the usual rent a gang from UCD albeit filled with too much drink while being further hyped before the cameras started rolling. Im not a fan of the Late Late show and expect it to be embarrassing. This on the other hand was offensively embarrassing. As funny as a dose of rectal herpes. It was one of the most cringey things ive seen on Irish TV. Awful just awful.
@Donal Proctor: you haven’t seen cringe until you’ve seen the BOC show when linda made a successful attempt at butchering a daft punk song.
@Baireid Risteard: Just watched it…. Traumatised.. You were right!:(
And the TV licence funding the complementary “glass” of wine in the green room
Donal, so you sat and watched it then? Did you lose the remote?
The cringe just watching the opening sequence
Sinking lower and lower
@Joe Howard You can get tablets for that ailment these days…
I’m surprised anyone admits to watching that guff!
@Reg: The dirty Irish lol.
RTE must be delighted it means at least 300 people are watching that sh*te….
It really was a load of rubbish. Car crash tv at its worst. What really drives me around the bend is the €160 tv licence.
I watched it until the end because I had rang in for the competition. Sitting there all night waiting to put on my fancy phone voice to answer and claim my prize. The show was cringeworthy and I went through all that pain for nothing.
You know your phone would still work if you changed the channel! :-)
@Cathal Nolan: Yes smartypants but I wanted to know exactly when it was on so I could go to bed straight after and before you ask, I never bring mobile phones into the bedroom while I sleep.
Big cringe big audience figures that how low the late late show goes
Ryan even looked uncomfortable. He made several attempts to control what was a rowdy audience. It was not a good show. Hang your head in shame RTE.
Half of them looking to get their hole, the other half thinking if they get on camera they’ll get their own reality show! Just show CCTV from Coppers. It would have been less embarrassing.
And how many complaints do they normally get, its terrible every week.
And to think your tv licence helps pay for this tripe
@Craig Barry: They’ll stop making the tripe when people stop watching it.
This pure filth on friday night had nothing to do with Valentines Day and romance. More like 50 shades darker according to listeners to our local radio station today. Thought I would hear more about it on Liveline but Joe Duffy does a runner today so he doesn’t have to deal with the aftermath of complaints. Not a word about it on Liveline. Talk about coverup. RTE’s insiders “I’ll cover your back and you cover mine”
That “pure filth” is what brought you into this world. Unless you’re Jesus, that is.
The Late Late Show should be relabelled the La La Show and shown about 3.00 in the morning, as a treatment for insomniacs.
Late late show is like that every week, cringy guests cringy audience and awkward show host in tubridy. Some things like Deano or the answers in the blind date just made me really sad thinking of padraig Pearce or Michael Collins looking down
@Jason Harvey: Pearse might be more upset that you couldn’t spell his name correctly.
What do expect watching the crap rte…A station of advertising phone ins product placements..And over paid tossers…Yep one shit station
Really Terrible Entertainment
Long way from the Bishop and the Nightie.
I thought the show crossed over the line of common decency. That gay lad’s comment on the “advice” panel when Tubridy accidentally spilled water on him “Oh Ryan, you wet me” was disgusting. Aagh.
Would hate to be Milo going into work on Monday morning
‘t would take more than one weekend to get through all the positions and he’s probably done his back in already. So I’d say he has a stay of execution
Grate Grate
Crap show
Utter nonsense
Bring back a movie on Friday night
Cost less and better view choice
All the serious Romantics were out on a date
Not at home watching the Grate Grate.
There you go.
Its total garbage every week and not half as edgy as it thinks it is. Talking about ‘getting the ride’ may have been edgy tv about 30 years ago but not today. We deserve better than RTE employees being interviewed badly every week.The host has zero charisma and is unsure of himself, relying on his prompt cards rather than having a conversation. Sadly for us licence payers the saturday night show is even worse!
See forbes says we have no money for children’s programmes but tubridy port show is a worthy cause
I’m glad I stopped watching rte about 10 years ago
I thought it was a bit of craic to be honest! They’d obviously plied the audience with drink beforehand.
Sell the Rte family estate,Montrose isn’t big enough for the overpaid ego’s.
The culchies lap it up!
Ya, thats why “Deano” d’dub was special guest??
Imagine being that arsed to complain to RTE about the Late Late show! Just turn the station off and get a life
@Orla Croke:
Imagine being intelligent enough to understand that critical comment might have some bearing on future programming decisions.
Oh yes because a critical comment will influence RTE. Its a programme aired at everyone in the country apart from children, just because a certain type of the population didn’t enjoy the craic on Friday night doesn’t mean it needs to be changed. It’s once a year that show isn’t all doom and gloom about the recession, the government and all the likes of current affairs. You don’t have to approve of everything or like everything you watch, turn it off if you don’t. Try watching something else on a Friday night that one day of the year.
I was flicking channels on Friday night, when I saw Ryan Tubridy ask a guy in the Late late audience `did he get the ride? `. there was a lot of giggling and joshing and good humored, but adolescent like banter. The last time I experienced this kind of talk was when I was doing my leaving cert, at least we had the excuse that it was harmless youthful bragging, but these guys were much older than that, and Tubridy questioning was creepy, like your teacher asking you if you, `got the ride?`
I know the LLS and Tubridy are the pits, but this was trash tv, pure and simple, demeaning to women, watching and sitting at home and in the audience, also embarrassing , silly and boring, cheap laughs, public service broadcasting, LoL!
The Late Late show reached a new low last Friday. Cringe inducing, scruffy, embarrassing viewers with ” the ride” being the object of the evening. Hampers of Durex plus sex toys to send the scruffy lot on their way. Is this what we’ve become? Ryan Tubridy are you not capable of anything better? Respectability is gone by the board for the sake of ratings. Do we really want this to be the future ambition of our children? Can’t be excused by saying “we’re just having the craic ” Just who is this programme aimed at? Not anyone in my family or friendship circle!
Shocking. The programme resembled a Bacchanalian orgy from start to finish.
Like one of those scenes from Caligula.
Absolutely shocking.
578,400 people watched the show, 306 complaints/negative comments were received. So that means (assuming those who complained or voiced their displeasure did so only once each) at least 578,094 people – 99.95% of the viewers – either thought it was fine or at the very least not worthy of complaint. Non-story.
Mistyped the numbers… I hate typing on my phone!!!
I fu(ked off to bed as soon as some twit ate mealworms to get a date. Even i was never that desperate…. Pure sh!te tv..
Lol Sinead
@Cillian McCormick:@Cillian McCormick: tend to agree. I didn’t watch it. Hardly ever watch any tv. But watched the Milo clip there. Can think of more important issues in Ireland to complain about. It is a light entertainment show.
@Cillian McCormick: I turned it off after about 20 mins into it. as it was pure crap.
It was a bit of fun … if ya didn’t like it then just switch off the station .. people need to lighten up ..
@Suzie Sunshine: suppose it suited the common element in our urban society
@Suzie Sunshine: Suzie that “bit of fun” is where my tv licence fee is going……
Suzie Sunshine the biggest viewing figures are by people over sixty who religiously watch the late late. I feel sorry for them stuck in watching that crap. It’s not what the late late was for. As a family entertainment show it’s definitely disappointed a lot of its viewers. So Suzie I think you are really not understanding what RTE 1 is all about.
Mary Murphy,you’re saying people over sixty watch .. then you say it’s a family entertainment show .. over 300 people out of over 500,000 were disappointed and only 10 complaints ..it was advertised as a Valentine special ..it’s not the end of the world that they did something different . Like I said .. a bit of fun for the over 500,00 people who watched it ..
I didn’t watch it myself John Hunt. But “common” haha how much land did your family get off the Queen then?
Waffle. I tried to get through to RTE without success. I reckon many others did too and it certainly was not to compliment them on the show .
@Suzie Sunshine:
“over 300 people out of over 500,000 were disappointed” – I’m afraid you display a very poor understanding of the situation when you assert that. Some 300 people took the trouble to articulate their anger / outrage / disgust. Even a cursory look at social media (in front of you here) would tell you that many more were pretty negative about the broadcast. In terms of viewer discontent 300 is a sizeable number of complaints for any single programme, and one for which I feel very heartened by.
I switch off Tubridy in the morning too!
Glad I missed it !!
So what were the complaints about? Didn’t see it but seems pretty innocent
Could have been anything. People just love complaining for the sake of complaining these days.
@Peter Breen: yes I would like to know too. this is a bit of a non story. Are people just complaining because they didn’t like the show or was there something particularly offensive?
Would ye all F off , if you don’t like it turn it off and stop giving out about it.
This cringe-fest couldn’t be worse if it tried. Even look at the photo above, the plump hipster with his hand on the throat of the recoiling girl as he plants a gob on her mouth. It’d make you want to be sick.
Good god. It’s time to move on. Gay is now long moved on and we should be allowed to do the same. Let’s stop pretending it’s a new (Father Ted ) style show and just replace it with something that actually appeals to and represents modern Ireland. Like a ‘Good Friday Night Film’
I was equally disgusted with Late L. There was no mention or even whiff of romance in it. All I heard were people talking about getting a “ride” and lots of talk about “dicks”. Crowd were like teenagers, and very juvenile ones at that!!!. Tubridy is useless a/way but I never thought he himself would stoop that low!. He egged them on having first plied them with alcohol. I was even disappointed in Blaithnad on the panel who suggested sex on the first date. Would have expected more from her with four teenagers of her own!!. I am no prude but found the show tasteless in the extreme!!!!!!
Crap show at the best of times
Ireland is simply too small to be part of the UK PR circuit that the studios send the talent to when promoting new releases. This is why those pop culture shows on the Irish stations are forced to send their ‘Senior Entertainment Correspondents’ to London to grab a few sound bites from actors in a suite at the Dorchester, along with 85 other journos. The Late Late could never sustain a format like Ross’ or Norton’s, and to be fair, historically never tried to. The quality that made it watchable under the stewardship of Gay Byrne was the social debate that reflected what was being discussed on bar stools across the country. Byrne was reigned in on many occasions by the DG, particularly on issues surrounding the Catholic Church but, and maybe I’m being revisionist via the prism of youth but I used to enjoy those heated debates where Hazel O’Connor would be chewing the head off some parish priest or when politicians would be on defending Charlie. On occasion this format would be interspersed with a visit from some A or B listers who were visiting ‘my dear dear friend Garech Browne in gorgeous Wicklow’ and you’d get an actual two way conversation because Gay actually had an interest in the career of the person and had done his homework, or in some cases, knew the guest as he’d been round the block himself.
The issue with the LLS under Ryan’s watch is the visibly formulaic structure, lack of quality guests, artificial ‘banter’, no position in terms of national tone-setting and the absence of gravitas from Tubridy himself. Ryan isn’t part of the political class (perhaps a good thing) and really doesn’t come across as really being, ahem, ‘cool’ enough to be part of the celebrity set, again setting him apart from Ross, Norton etc, which sort of leaves him as the outsider looking in, which doesn’t make for very watchable television. There are plenty of globally renouned novelists, journalists, musicians, retired international politicians, business people who visit Ireland every week on lecture tours or summer schools etc. The LLS should mine this seam more and steer away from attempting to emulate the more ‘glitzy’ talkshows from across the water, there just aren’t the guests to sustain it. Finally, the invariable ‘dead baby/my cancer/depression hell” segment needs to be phased out, those conversations are better suited and would service the guests better in a different format, not Friday night light entertainment.
Good observations Gareth. .. nail on the head.
Women love to be grabbed by the neck… As he thinks?
“Did you get the ride?” and then giggling and running off. Felt like I was watching a show full of hypersexed teenagers.
Even jerry springer complained
There is a number I can ring.. please share.
Why are we forced by law to pay for this smutty crap? Gay Byrne had class but this mediocre crap is even worse than Ray Darcy.
Oh Jesus, I just watched the video. …noooooo
And we pay television licence for the late late show rubbish last Saturday let’s have a new face soon
I didn’t see the show so I can’t really comment on how tasteful or tasteless it was done but I really think the level of complaints go to show how backwards we still are as a country that we can’t cover topics on a show like this as they may be too “risky”
Can Dr. UGBO make the Late Late Show watchable? That would be a true test of his wizardry….
Pure comedy……….. The late late show and the pitiful souls that took the time out to actually complain. Ridiculous.
Late Late has gone down the tubes for quite a while now.
Should give the late late show job to Dave@southern.ie would do the job for less
It’s a pity in retrospect that the show wasn’t axed when gaybo retired. Many felt it could never match up once he was gone and so it has proved. It’s just awful now.
Oh just for guy who e termed comp on late late I definitely think they don’t ring mobiles but make fortune from people who ring late late comp with them plus from texting. When they say you have to be at home to take the call then wise up they ring only Landlines another money making scam from RTE should be seriously checked out.
Tbh I think this represents the usual state of dating in Ireland. Dating in Dublin especially is an astounding mixture of immaturity: Girls are socialised to be spoilt entitled boring gits, setting ridiculously unrealistic expectations on men. Men in their turn become increasingly aggressive, drunken shitbags (there are exceptions to these rules, but lets face it, Irish women aren’t renowned for their personalities and Irish men ain’t renowned for their soberness – though to be fair in my experience, many girls abuse alcohol as well), and there is never any mature, balanced dicussion of what goes behind this dynamic, so nothing ever changes. But seriously dude, choking a woman (or any person for that matter) while kissing her? wtf? Anyway, this is about as much braincell activity as I’m bothered vomiting into this particularly mental dustbin.
Rte should receive complaints about their channel as a whole. Repeats and rubbish telly viewing all for a price of €160 what a waste..
I cant believe there are still people looking at the late late show.
have your say