‘One-way traffic’ support for Late Late presenter to be female as Claire Byrne top pick

The Laois native and Gaybo namesake has overtaken Prime Time host, Miriam O’Callaghan, who was the previous bookies’ favourite for the iconic presenting role.

“We’ve seen interest in quite a few different names, all female,” said Lawrence Lyons, spokesperson for BoyleSports.

Ryan Tubridy revealed last week that Friday 26 May would be his final night as presenter of the historic talk show, while RTÉ bosses admitted they have not yet decided on Ryan’s replacement.

Mr Lyons highlighted how the bookmakers have been busy keeping up with the variety of names being thrown into the ring.

“It’s been a busy ever-changing market since we opened the betting last week and we’ve seen huge interest in a woman presenter, with some surprising interest in Angela Scanlon, but Claire Byrne is by far the most fancied for the top job at Montrose,” Mr Lyons said.

Ms Scanlon is the current presenter of ‘Ask Me Anything’ on RTÉ where celebrity guests agree to be asked anything during the hour-long show, which has proven popular with the public.

Claire Byrne recently stepped back from her television role ‘Claire Byrne Live’ which was a successful current affairs show. She currently presents the Today show on RTÉ and is also due to present a forthcoming quiz show, ‘Ireland’s Smartest.’

Claire is now just 6/4 with BoyleSports to take over from Ryan in the Friday night hotseat.

Early favourite Miriam O’Callaghan has drifted out to 9/2 in the betting having once been as short as 4/6 odds-on.

Of the other female contenders, Prime Time presenter Sarah McInerney is now also 9/2 while the biggest mover of them all is Angela Scanlon who was slashed to 9/2 (from 33/1) after a few interesting wagers were placed in a Dublin City Centre shop.

So one-way has the traffic been for the next presenter to be female, that BoyleSports is quoting just 1/14 on RTÉ bucking the trend and choosing a woman and a considerably larger 7/1 that Tubs will be replaced by another man.

An RTÉ insider told the Sunday World recently that “The Late Late Show will definitely continue on without Ryan in the job, but that the world is their oyster now regarding the presenter choice and show format.

“No one has been picked yet but you have to speculate that they will use this as an opportunity to kick the show on a bit.

“A lot of people assume it will be an inside presenter, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they look outside for fresh faces. And don’t be surprised if they choose two presenters… a male and female.

“Whoever it is won’t be officially announced until the summer; possibly even August. It will create publicity and hype for the show.”

“Two presenters would mean a change of format also, which may not be a bad thing,” our insider added.

The current top ten in the running are:

6/4 Claire Byrne

9/2 Miriam O'Callaghan

9/2 Angela Scanlon

9/2 Sarah McInerney

9/1 Tommy Tiernan

12/1 Brendan O'Connor

16/1 Carl Mullen

18/1 Daithi O Se

20/1 Jennifer Zamparelli

25/1 Mairead Ronan