My dog Alfie gets his own fan mail, reveals Marty
MARTY Whelan has revealed that he receives some very ‘odd’ fan mail from the public – and that the family dog Alfie even has his own fans sending him gifts in the post!
The Winning Streak host has been receiving correspondence from fans for much of his career.
‘I’ve been getting a few letters for a while,’ he told the Irish Daily Mail.
‘There are very odd ones, people to avoid – but there are always going to be odd ones. You see, in our business there’s always going to be that.’
The RTÉ star isn’t fazed by the mail, explaining that he doesn’t believe any of his note-writers intend any malice or animosity.
‘Mostly, because you’re in entertainment, nobody means any harm,’ he continued. ‘We’re not in the firing line for stuff, we’re in entertainment.’
And the 61-year-old is now collecting parcels for the furry member of the family as pet Alfie has started to have his very own packages delivered.
‘We’ve an old English sheepdog now and now he’s huge,’ the RTÉ favourite said. ‘But now they’ve starting sending me Christmas presents for him – it’s hilarious.’
And while the Lyric FM presenter is looking forward to the new series of Dancing With The Stars, he rules himself out of ever competing in the show.
‘I was one of the people who was down to present it at the time and that’s one thing, because it doesn’t necessarily mean dancing. And that didn’t happen and that’s fine.
‘But the idea of being on Dancing With The Stars is not for me. And I don’t have three months of my life to give up. It’s RTÉ, I’d still be up at 4.30 in the morning to do the radio. I have a dog to feed, a wife to love and children who refuse to leave home. I’m busy doing what I’m doing.’
And despite the recent round of redundancies in RTÉ, the Dubliner has no intentions of retiring from the airwaves any time soon.
‘I’ve no intention of going anywhere just yet. I don’t know where I’ll be in a few years but I’ll be on radio somehow, because I love it.’
The genial host was speaking at the Christmas fundraising carol service organised by the National Lottery and charity Alone, an organisation that supports thousands of older people to age at home.
Commenting on his participation in the charity event, he said: ‘What you do here is just try and make a difference.’