Ryan Tubridy has told potential TV rival Ray D’Arcy: Hands off my Late Late Show.
The RTE star told Goss.ie that he isn’t worried about the new arrival trying to get his hands on the popular chat show.
Bookies have already made the former Today FM presenter the favourite to follow Tubs in hosting the show.
But asked if he fears Ray is his TV competition, Tubridy said: “Well, I present the Late Late Show on TV. And that’s my privilege to do that.
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“And if Ray wants to do that, he’d probably join a quite significant group of people,” he told Goss.ie.
Ray is also rumoured to be replacing The Saturday Night Show host Brendan O’Connor, but Ryan insisted no changes have been made.
“Brendan O’Connor is the presenter of Saturday night and I haven’t heard anything to the contrary on that front.”
Despite holding on to his coveted talk show, Ryan admitted Ray would make a good host on the Late Late Show, but admitted there are a lot of good contenders.
New groove: Ryan is loving the new Late Late set | RTE
“I think there are many people who would make good Late Late Show presenters,” he said.
“But I’m not going to list them off because I’m only interested in the current holder of the job – and that’s me.”
Speaking on a tour of his 2FM show –Â Ryan revealed he is loving the new Late Late Show set, and is happy with a new era of the series.
Happy: Ryan wants to hold on to the Late Late Show | RTE
“The Late Late Show has almost entered a new phase – it’s settled, it’s more warm, it’s more intimate.  The house style, my own style, I feel improvements have been made,” he told Goss.ie.
“Talk of what’s next on the Late Late Show is not of interest to me, because I’m only interested in what’s happening now. I’m not worried about who’s next.”
