IT HAD BEEN eight years since the doors of Ballydung Manor had been flung open, so it’s hardly surprising all eyes were on new host, Doireann Garrihy, when The Podge and Rodge Show made its highly-anticipated return last month.

And while Doireann made no secret of how nervous she was over her new role, she was simultaneously dealing with a social media storm born of rumours surrounding her relationship with boyfriend, Joe Melody.

If the drama passed you by at the time, let’s catch you up.

WhatsApp voice messages pertaining to the early days of Doireann and Joe’s relationship circulated around the country in October, with the RTÉ host accused of breaking up a relationship Joe shared with a woman named Jane.

As scrutiny intensified and the WhatsApp voice messages found their way into more and more group chats last month, Doireann posted a screenshot of a message written by Jane who insisted that the rumours had no grounding in reality.

doireanngarrihy / Instagram via Goss.ie doireanngarrihy / Instagram via Goss.ie / Instagram via Goss.ie

Speaking to The Irish Daily Mirror, Doireann reflected on the events of last month, and insisted that despite the social media furore, her focus remained on the return of Podge and Rodge.

The timing was a bit, I suppose it was bad. But it was also maybe good that I had something else massive to focus on. Because it was the first week of this [Podge and Rodge], so I was like ‘Eye on the prize I just need to nail this’ and rise above the rumours.

So, then what happened?

Well, according to Doireann, the whole thing just blew over and people moved on.

“It has gone away since and sure people just… it has blown over and I knew it would,” she said.

The presenter said she was confident the story would lose momentum, and those engaging with it would eventually run out of steam, because there was no truth in the reports.

“I had always learned, even from my sister Aoibhin, if something like that happens it is always going to be old news in a couple of days and thank God it was,” she said.

And the fact there was just zero truth, in it, you know people were like to me ‘Could you not sleep at night?’ and I was like ‘Well actually I could sleep fine’ because it was just so wild.

And where do we stand now?

“I haven’t even thought about it since,” Doireann told the publication.

Fair enough.

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