Doireann Garrihy’s boyfriend Mark Mehigan has refuted claims she didn’t know who he was before they first met.
The presenter recently announced her brand new podcast called Doireann and Friends, and will be joined by her comedian beau for the first instalment.
In a clip from the first episode, which will drop on Monday, the couple discuss how they first met, with Doireann explaining she heard of Mark through a colleague in 2fm.
Doireann’s colleague is a cousin of Mark, and revealed that he was going to his comedy gig that weekend.
The radio host admitted Mark’s name sounded familiar, and told him: “That name rings a bell…”
Mark then interjected: “This f*****g charade of you not knowing is just exhausting.”
After hilarious mocking his girlfriend for pretending she didn’t know who he was, Mark promised listeners they would “get into it” and share the real story behind their first meeting.
During a recent interview with Goss.ie, Mark also refuted Doireann’s claim he slid into her DMs first.
The Dublin native joked: “She slid into my DMs. She’s using big media, she’s using big RTÉ money, to try and silence my truth! But I’ll tell my story…”
“She slid into my DMs, she sent me about 15 laughing emojis, and you know as well as I know once you go over three laughing emojis, you’re flirting.”
Mark also spoke about the public reaction to their relationship, and admitted: “It has been really overwhelming at times because I don’t think I understood the magnitude of how successful she is, but at the same time it’s absolutely incredible when you see the affect that she has on people.”
“I mean walking around, and especially after Dancing with the Stars, seeing children’s eyes light up [when they see her] is just so sweet, and kids getting their mum’s to come over and say hi.”
“And I suppose just the complete wide range of people that tune in to Doireann on the breakfast show and then Dancing with the Stars and then most recently when she did the Bord Gais Theatre two nights in a row.”
“I mean that was… again like Joanne McNally, seeing Doireann and feeling that energy in the room you realise that you’re witnessing something extremely special.”
Mark continued: “I’ll be honest the attention at times has been hard, because you get all the articles going out and then there will be a comment going ‘Comedian? I’ve never heard of him!’ As if f***ing Dermot Moriarty, the 72-year-old fisherman from Carlow, is supposed to have his f***ing finger on the cultural pulse of Dublin like.”
“I think I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t very daunting at times, and you know because of the type of person that I am, my instinct can be to flee these scenarios.”
“But yeah at the end of the day none of that interferes with just how good things are with Doireann, and she is easily the greatest person that I’ve ever met.”
The podcaster, who has been sober since October 2021, added: “I texted one of my friends after our first date, and I was around 13 months sober, and I texted one of my friends and was like ‘that’s the first time in the last 13 months that I haven’t felt like an alcoholic’.”
“I don’t really like the phrase ‘when you know, you know’ because this is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before in my life, and Doireann is like nobody I’ve ever met before in my life.
“But there’s sides of myself that I’m showing her that I wasn’t even aware that I had.”
Mark is Goss.ie‘s latest Spotlight On cover star and in the exclusive interview, he also opens up about his recovery and his complicated path towards being a comic.
Check out the full exclusive here.
Check out the first episode of our brand new podcast Goss Island, where host Alan Cawley sits down with Goss.ie Founder & CEO Alexandra Ryan about what’s to come on the summer series of Love Island 2023.
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Now live across all streaming platforms, including Spotify and iTunes, you can also watch the entire episode from start to finish on our YouTube channel.
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