Pat and Cat’s Christmas dinner dilemma
Will they spend the big day with family in Birmingham or will it be a Dundrum do?
LIKE almost every couple at this time of year, Late Late Show presenter Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley have to thrash out their Christmas plans to keep their families happy.
In an interview in today’s Magazine, the Dundrum, Co. Down native said the couple ‘do exactly what most married couples do in the run up to Christmas’.
‘We have the chat about whether we are going to my mum’s or whether we are going to her mum and dad’s.’
Cat – his wife of 11 years – hasfamily in Birmingham, England, and Kielty said Christmas dinner there ‘tends to be a smaller gang’.
‘Last year we did Christmas in Dundrum and that was 23 people around the table.
‘I’m – well, I wouldn’t quite say a functioning grown up – but I’m 52 years of age and yet we are still splitting our Christmases between the two families.’ The TV host added that the couple’s two sons, who are five and seven, are ‘bang in the sweet spot for Christmas’ and are ‘mad’ to spend time with their cousins since the family moved from Los Angeles to London in 2020.
‘We wanted the kids to know their cousins and my mum’s not getting any younger, or Cat’s mum and dad either,’ Kielty said. ‘The boys are mad to see their cousins now – doesn’t matter what time of year, summer holidays or Christmas.’
Kielty will have his first stab at presenting the Toy Show this Friday and told Magazine the iconic annual Christmas curtain-raiser is more widely known than might be imagined.
Virgin Radio presenter Chris Evans – who counts Kielty’s Late Late predecessor Ryan Tubridy among his colleagues as of this week – harangued the new Toy Man for tickets during an interview in September. ‘Chris was going, “Oh my God you got the Late Late Show,”’ Kielty said. ‘Talk to me about the Toy Show. Who’s coming to the Toy Show? Can I come to the Toy Show?’
And he revealed another unlikely interaction from ‘years ago’ in the US, where the couple lived for 15 years as Deeley presented So You Think You Can Dance.
‘The head of Fox Studios, who was Cat’s boss at the time, stopped me at one of the recordings for her show to ask me if I was from Ireland and then chatted to me about the Toy Show,’ Kielty revealed.
‘He wanted to know if I thought it would work in America. It is known a lot further afield than you may think.’
The comedian revealed the Toy Show will feature ‘a little stunt’ that has already been filmed involving a safety harness, and confirmed there would be no musical theme.
Reports from the UK suggest ITV’s This Morning is trying to lure Kielty to join his wife on the sofa – Deeley made her debut on the longrunning breakfast show this week to rave reviews.
‘Cat and Pat has a great ring to it, doesn’t it?’ an insider told the Irish Daily Mail. ‘They are about the closest we are going to get to Richard and Judy. A married couple hosting This Morning again would be the dream – although to have just Cat would be perfect, too.’