Love/Hate fans can rest easy – as Keith Duffy won’t be returning for the new series of the RTE show.
The Boyzone singer was widely ridiculed after appearing as a buffed-up drug dealing gym owner last series.
The 39-year-old had said he wanted to come back to the RTE series to continue to role on the show.
But sources have told Goss.ie that Keith – whose role stayed secret last time until days before the episode was aired – is definitely gone from the show now.
He’s gone: Keith Duffy won’t be back on Love/Hate
A source said: “It was great to have Keith in the show last time around, but some of the fans really didn’t like it.
“They found it impossible to take him seriously as the character, which was a touch unfair.
“There could have been a way to bring Mark – the gym owner – back into series five if they had really wanted but because of Keith’s schedule it wouldn’t have been a runner.
“And that could be a bit of a winner for everyone – no-one wants fans giving out constantly about their show.”
Previously Keith told how he was getting “cruel” abuse from Twitter trolls before even making his debut.
Boyzone: Keith with rest of the band | VIPIRELAND.COM
“I did audition before and RTE and the production company said they felt it wasn’t right and this time around they kind of felt it was right,” he said.
“They said, ‘We believes in you’ so hopefully you think the audience will believe you too. If they watched it and formed an opinion on me well that’s fair enough but at least watch the performance beforehand.
“But when it gets out and people are pre-judging before they have even seen what you’ve even done, that’s a bit of a pain in the arse.”
