{"id":629006,"date":"2026-09-18T23:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629006\/"},"modified":"2026-09-18T23:18:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T23:18:09","slug":"it-was-like-a-chat-with-your-mate-dublin-teenagers-get-oprah-to-appear-on-their-podcast-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/629006\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It was like a chat with your mate\u2019: Dublin teenagers get Oprah to appear on their podcast \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Glen Anderson couldn\u2019t quite believe it when the woman he stopped on the street in Dublin city centre turned out to be the best friend of Oprah Winfrey<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 18-year-old from Coolock, north Dublin, had spent some time waiting outside the five-star Merrion Hotel<\/a> in the hopes of meeting Winfrey herself and asking her to appear on his podcast, Back of the Class, which he started two years ago with his friend, Ben Hanlon.<\/p>\n

But when Gayle King \u2013 who is, in her own right, a big media star in the US \u2013 walked by, Anderson took his chance. \u201cI didn\u2019t know she was part of Oprah\u2019s crew at first, but I think I\u2019d seen her before so it kind of clicked in my mind,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

He pleaded with King to ask Winfrey to appear on their podcast. But she had a better idea: ask her yourself.<\/p>\n

She recorded only a few seconds of Anderson\u2019s pitch, and his approach was direct: \u201cIt\u2019ll only be a two-minute interview, five questions, but it\u2019s our dream, honestly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, I know if you met me, you\u2019d like me \u2013 because I\u2019m from the same area you\u2019re from. I don\u2019t come from money, I don\u2019t come from anything. It\u2019s just a backpack and a dream,\u201d he went on.<\/p>\n

And the dream came true. Winfrey\u2019s security team messaged the podcasters on Instagram<\/a> to tell them to return to the Merrion Hotel for 7pm. <\/p>\n

Anderson and Hanlon arrived on time and were promptly escorted through the hotel. \u201cAll of a sudden, Oprah is standing there in front of us,\u201d Hanlon said. \u201cIt was just surreal, we couldn\u2019t believe it.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Oprah Winfrey in Dublin: \u2018How do you reach the highest, truest expression of yourself?\u2019Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Hanlon began the interview: \u201cIf you knew all the steps that it took to be successful, and you had to restart and take them all over again, would you take the same steps?\u201d<\/p>\n

Anderson continued: \u201cWhere do you get your confidence from?\u201d Hanlon finished with, \u201cWhat\u2019s the best advice you\u2019ve ever received?\u201d<\/p>\n

The podcasting duo asked only three questions, but the interview lasted more than 10 minutes. \u201cOprah ran with it … it was really just like having a chat with your mate,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

The episode is to be released on Sunday, but the pair\u2019s work is only just beginning. \u201cWe want to go worldwide with the podcast and we want to immerse ourselves in different people\u2019s cultures,\u201d Anderson said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Glen Anderson couldn\u2019t quite believe it when the woman he stopped on the street in Dublin city centre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,542,60,102067,14043],"class_list":["post-629006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-instagram","tag-ireland","tag-merrion-hotel","tag-oprah-winfrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}