Tommy Bowe reveals 'slagging' from rugby pals over Ireland AM job - and how turned to UK TV bosses for help
Tommy joined the breakfast show team in 2020.
Former rugby star Tommy Bowe has told how he was “slagged” when he landed the role as presenter on Ireland AM “because he never read a newspaper before”.
But the ex-Ulster player contacted two people who work for ITV and the BBC to help him with his interviewing skills before he started the Virgin Media job.
The father-of-two told us: “I am in my fourth year of the show. I started in 2020, in the middle of Covid. Coming from rugby, I never thought I would be presenting TV, never mind the institution that is Ireland AM. It is probably the next biggest Irish TV institution after Ireland AM. I love it. Some of the lads I played rugby with go into teaching or business after they retired, a lot of them struggle to get the buzz that rugby brought. Live telly gives you that adrenaline buzz.
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“They (his rugby teammates) couldn’t believe it. They would have seen me in the changing room and known I had never read a newspaper before, so they would have asked what the hell I was going to talk about. I had to be a quick learner, and that is the beauty of Ireland AM.
“I went to two people in the UK, Rob Nothman and Matt Curtis, from ITV and BBC. I was so used to standing in front of the camera answering questions about rugby, stuff I know. Asking questions and trying to open up a conversation and reading the autocue were alien to me.
“When I finished rugby the option to get into punditry was there for me, but I wanted to crack the presenter side of it because there is more longevity in it. Being a presenter requires a completely different skill set.
“There was some slagging alright, they (rugby team mates) couldn’t believe it when I started the clothes and shoes. But once they got a few pairs they were very happy.”
He revealed he wakes up at 4:05am every morning to commute from Belfast to Ballymount in Dublin.
“I get up at 4.05am and I am generally in studio for 5.45am. I don’t sleep very well, and I have kids who are up through the night, they are aged seven and four.
“The hardest part is trying to read the notes in the evening time, you get sent through eight or nine briefs while you are trying to have dinner, putting the kids to bed and talking to your wife. I try to be in bed by 9pm, but it doesn’t always work like that.
“It takes me an hour and a half or an hour and 20 minutes to drive from Belfast to Dublin. Kieran Cuddihy from Newstalk commutes from Kilkenny and it takes him the same time.
“It is a long way, but I can get all of the prep work done in the car by listening to the news and to podcasts. I generally call into the warehouse for the clothes and shoes for an hour on the way back up the road. I make phone calls too.
“When I do get home it means that I can leave my phone in the car and spend time with my family.”
Tommy also opened up about pursuing Meta (Facebook) after the social media giant allowed scam ads using his face to be posted on their websites.
He said he knows people who have fallen for the scams and have lost money.
“We contacted Meta through a lawyer, and it was very difficult to get a hold of them. Tánaiste Micheál Martin was in a similar position. In fairness to them they took it down in an instant, but the ads were back up a week later.
“I know a few people who have been scammed and lost money through it, it is crazy. My actual cousins were in a WhatsApp group saying they didn’t know I was investing in Bitcoin.
“You would think people would be wise to it. I think the headline said ‘I can’t believe he said that on live television’ and people had to click the link. To be fair, that fits me quite well,” he said laughing.
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