A Late great despite break

RTE bosses ready to hand Paddy a new contract

- BY JOHN KIERANS

LATE Late Show star Paddy Kielty wants to host the smash hit chat show long-term despite the breakup of his marriage to Cat Deeley.

RTE executives are fully supportive of him and prepared to offer the chatterbox comedian a lucrative new deal when his current €250,000 a year contract expires next May, we can reveal.

Friends of the couple are adamant that Kielty, 54, working in Ireland had nothing to do with the marriage split and Paddy and Cat, 48, had effectively been living apart in the same house for over a year.

One source said: "He was spending on average two nights a week in Ireland. He would usually fly in on Thursday and do the show live on Friday nights, 30 times a year.

"He would then drive up north and do his BBC Five Live radio show on Saturday mornings from the Belfast studios and fly back to London afterwards.

"He still saw plenty of his wife and the two sons.

"The problem was the personal relationship between them just seemed to break down for whatever reasons. They are both strong personalities who speak their mind. Neither was seeing anyone else, there was definitely no third party involved."

Paddy has now done two seasons of the Late Late Show since the departure of Ryan Tubridy.

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