Eric Roberts has joined the Ireland AM team alongside Elaine Crowley and Martin King
18:22, 03 Jan 2026Updated 18:23, 03 Jan 2026
Eric Roberts with Martin King and Elaine Crowley on Ireland AM(Image: Instagram)
Eric Roberts has joined the Ireland AM couch alongside Martin King and Cork’s Elaine Crowley. RSVPLive caught up with the trio to chat work, public image – and slip-ups.
Eric, welcome to Ireland AM. When did you find out you were joining the team?
I found out a few weeks before I started. It was one of the hardest secrets I had to keep, I couldn’t even tell family and friends for quite a while. It was a bit of a relief when it was out in the open.
Did you move from Donegal to Dublin for the role?
We moved the family down because a lot of my filming happens here during the week anyway. It made sense to move here. A lot of my wife Niamh’s friends are from Dublin as well, so it was an easy move. It was a harder transition for me leaving my family and friends behind. We put down a deposit on a place and it all happened very quickly. It is an apartment ready to go, and we’re still building a place in Donegal.
What was Niamh’s reaction to you landing the job?
I didn’t say yes straight away because it’s a life-changing decision. We spoke about it at length and we realised it was too amazing of an opportunity to turn down. What was I doing everything online for if I didn’t jump at this with two hands? I was nervous and terrified starting out, but Martin and Elaine looked after me and they made it very comfortable.
How do you feel about raising your son in Dublin?
Rian is from Donegal and he will be raised in Donegal, he is just visiting Dublin for a short time [laughs]. He’s starting to say a couple of words and the Donegal accent is there. I grew up in Dublin, I lived here until I was seven. My dad is a Dub, so I have huge connections down here. It’s nice to be back for an extended period of time. I’m excited for the next few months to see where it takes us.
Will this gig give you more stability?
I’ve been extremely lucky that I’ve been in the position where I haven’t really been looking for work over the last few years. I’ve had incredible opportunities from being online and I’ve been quite successful with it. This is going to be another notch to my belt in developing my career. It will be nice to have structure because I haven’t known what I’m doing one week to the next. I could be in South Africa, America or all over Ireland filming for brands. It’s going to be nice knowing where I am every weekend.
Martin, you’ve had a lot of work wives and work husbands over the years, is it hard to find their rhythm on live TV?
Martin: That’s a good question. It does take a little while, but Eric has been on the show a number of times, so we feel like we have already got that bounce. It can be tough because you need to figure out how other people work. We ad lib a lot.
Elaine: They spend their time making TikToks in studio.
Eric: A lot of the time I don’t even explain what we’re doing and I add in the caption later. They’re great sports.
How’s your family life, Martin? You’ve had a busy few years with births and weddings?
We’re all good. We’ve no more grandchildren on the way at the moment. We’ve got four and we’re absolutely delighted with that. They’ve only realised recently what I do. I was on radio a few weeks ago and my son was in the car with his kids. He pulled over and FaceTimed me and they were mesmerised by the radio studio. I’ve received videos of Mia and Ella realising that Grandad works on TV. There’s a gorgeous cuteness when they realise.
Has being in the public eye affected your life in any negative way?
The only time that being on TV and radio really bothered me was when I was trying to console one of my children one day. He was really, really upset and he needed some TLC. Out of nowhere someone came along and said, ‘How are ya Martin?’, I had to put a smile on my face. The female presenters seem to get more criticism than the males.
Elaine: We get way more than you fellas, for God’s sake. It’s par for the course, we get a lot of b****y comments about our appearance. I remember former German Chancellor Angela Merkel had the same hair style and wore the same type of suit every single day during her political career because we are judged on what we look like. It’s frustrating and annoying, but you just have to let it go over your head.
Does it ever get to you?
Ah yeah. I’m not made of Teflon so of course it gets to me. I’m only human. It upsets my family more than it upsets me, to be honest. I’m used to it to a certain extent. A lot of the people who write these comments don’t realise that we can see them. We’re not The Kardashians, there aren’t two million comments on our posts online, there are 20!
It’s eight months since your time on Dancing With The Stars, how do you look back at the show, Elaine?
I still have a bit of PTSD, to be honest with you, and I haven’t danced since. It was an interesting experience and it was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I was happy to get back in the studio with Martin, the muscles in my legs had seized up. I was chatting in the Dancing With The Stars WhatsApp group and a few of us are going to meet up for a mini reunion.
Cork’s Elaine Crowley on Dancing with the Stars
Was the group popping off when Joanna Donnelly was seeking a potential run for President?
It was an interesting one and I didn’t really see it coming, but more power to her! I, myself, wouldn’t go down that route because I was the second person voted off Dancing With The Stars, so there was no way I would get enough votes to become President of Ireland. I know a lot of people from Dancing With The Stars have pursued political careers, but I won’t be one of them.
You had a funny slip-up recently where you cursed live on the show, was that the first time that happened?
I think I might have done it last year, but it was off mic.
Did you get in trouble?
What could you do? There was no pre-meditation to it. I was making a meal and I can really cook it and I was so confident. There was a lot of flapping around me and they were fussing. Yes, I said ‘F**k! The younger kids in my family don’t know much about my TV work, it doesn’t register with them. My God, after it all went on TikTok, they knew about it. Once you go viral you are certainly cool.
Martin and Elaine, what advice do you have for Eric as he joins the team?
Martin: Ignore the bad stuff and also ignore the good stuff.
Elaine: Do not believe your own publicity. Back when I presented Midday and Elaine you would have someone who had been a panellist a few times and all of a sudden they were saying they were a TV presenter now. People can fill you with so much bull. You need to take everything in your stride and we’re not reinventing the wheel. You will get to interview some amazing people and a lot of your idols and you will be sitting there pinching yourself. Eric has met all the big names, he has met more than me, TikTok is the new Hollywood.
Eric: It has been a fun transition and one I have known I’ve wanted to do for quite a while. Creating content has opened a lot of doors, but how many can I walk through and where will they take me? I got a small taste of presenting on red carpets and awards shows and I fell in love with it. I love the chaos of television, it’s very, very exciting and I’m up for the challenge.