Aisling O’Loughlin is reportedly seeking legal advice after being axed from Xposé while on maternity leave.
The blonde presenter was axed from the show after ten years alongside Lisa Cannon, as well as Peter O’Riordan, in a shock decision that was revealed earlier this week.
Since the announcement, there has been uproar surrounding the treatment of long time Xposé faces Aisling and Lisa, with an insider telling the Irish Sun on Sunday, “Cassie and Ruth were supposed to be covering maternity leave for Karen (Koster) and Aisling (O’Loughlin).
“But now it looks like they are replacing Lisa and Aisling. Lisa and Aisling were both more than ready for a change. It’s just the way this was handled was all wrong.”
Not happy: Aisling is reportedly seeking legal advice after Xposé axe | VIPIRELAND.COM
While Lisa has since revealed that she will be moving over to Weekend AM, it is said Aisling is seeking “independent advice” as she was informed of the decision while still on maternity leave, and hasn’t yet agreed to a new role with TV3.
“Staff are asking if Aisling is gone from TV3 or what is her new role? And if there is a new position offered to her, is it equal to what she was doing on Xposé?” a source said.
Sources also said that remaining Xposé hosts Karen Koster and Glenda Gilson have been left “deeply unsettled” by their termination.
When contacted by the Irish Sun on Sunday, Aisling and Lisa declined to comment on their employment situation.
Scary: Remaining hosts Glenda and Karen are said to be “deeply unsettled” by their pals’ termination | VIPIRELAND.COM
It has also been revealed that tensions were already running high in TV3 over the amount each presenter was paid.
Glenda, Karen, Lisa and Aisling were said to be paid €40,000, and were pressing for a raise in recent years – which all went out the window once the station hired former TMZ star Peter O’Riordan – who was reportedly earning nearly double their money.
“The biggest secret at the station is how much people are being paid. The girls had no idea what Peter was on but it was obvious over time he wasn’t struggling, that he was living a different lifestyle to them,” a TV3 source said,
“There were questions as to why the money to hire him hadn’t been used to give the girls – who had been begging for a pay rise for years – an increase.
“But Peter got axed too this week, and you have to feel sorry for him. He was poached over from the US where he was working on website TMZ. There’s sympathy for him from the girls because he was funny and charming and nice,” they added.
Tension: There were already disputes within Xposé about pay | TV3
The axing has now been blamed on the decision to return to the show’s 30-minute long format – but Xposé presenters had reportedly warned TV3 that the 60-minute format would never work back when it was introduced.
“We told TV3 the hour-long show wouldn’t work, and now we are paying the price for someone else’s bad decision,” an Xposé source added.
Speaking at the TV3 launch earlier this week, Glenda told how hard it was to keep up with the hour-long show.
“The hour-long show nearly killed us. It was double the work, a lot for the viewer to watch, and five days to fill in Ireland is tough – especially when we have to go away a lot to film red carpets and meet stars,” she told The Irish Sun.
