This year’s Irish Film and Television Awards received a serious burning on social media but it seems that things at the award ceremony were equally chaotic, as an imposter managed to walk away with one of the prestigious statuettes.
RTE presenter Eoghan McDermott revealed all about the gaffe to The Sun this week, explaining that the incident occurred during the glitzy ceremony at the DoubleTree Hilton when a man approached the stage to pick up the Best TV Documentary award. He made his way to the podium to make an acceptance speech before walking off with the trophy to applause from the audience.
However, the team behind ‘John Lonergan’s Irish Circus’ were the real winners of the award and soon came looking for their prize, leading to the man being chased through the four-star hotel in an attempt to repossess the IFTA.
“This guy turned up on the podium, picked up his IFTA and was waiting around while he made his acceptance speech,” said McDermott.
“The whole Irish TV and film industry was listening to him but he was a chancer.”
While organisers were left red-faced, viewers at home were none the wiser as the caper was edited out of the broadcast version.
