Comedy duo the 2 Johnnies have pulled out of a planned revamp of Up the Match, revealing that the sudden withdrawal is due to ‘personal family reasons’.
It has been a serious blow for RTÉ after the 2 Johnnies dropped out of the project, which is the latest to be outsourced by RTÉ to an independent production company as part of a five-year plan that aims to streamline the broadcaster.
The National Lottery and Telly Bingo have also been moved off-site.
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Though the 2 Johnnies hung up their 2FM microphones, they’ve remained firmly part of the RTÉ family and host the beloved talk show, The 2 Johnnies’ Late Night Lock In.
The show pulls in huge ratings, so it was a no-brainer, then, to turn to Johnny B and Johnny ‘Smacks’ McMahon for Up the Match.
An RTÉ spokesperson has now confirmed that the pair has withdrawn from the show’s selection process ‘for personal family reasons’.
‘We fully support this decision and their privacy regarding their decision,’ the spokesperson told the Irish Independent.
They added: ‘Plans for the new incarnation of the much-loved show are currently progressing. We look forward to bringing that to our audience in due course.’
It is not yet clear whether the existing presenting duo of Des Cahill and Jacqui Hurley will be involved in the 2026 instalment.
Johnny Smacks and his wife, Annie, welcomed their firstborn, J.J., to the world in December, but after being born with a rare condition, he spent the first couple of months of his life in hospital.
The couple thanked their lucky stars in February when they were able to take their newborn home.
