Some very disappointed people.
The Late Late Show went on the road to London on Friday night in a celebration for the Irish in Britain.
Tickets were free, but an application to get them was needed and the 1,200 tickets made available for the show were snapped up quickly.
Host Ryan Tubridy closed the show with a Brexit panel of former Labour Party spin doctor Alastair Campbell joined by Dublin-born Liberal Democrat Baroness Dee Doocey on the anti-Brexit side, with Nigel Farage and economist Liam Halligan on the pro-Brexit side.
There was also lighter entertainment on the show with Graham Norton, Brendan O’Carroll, Laura Whitmore, Angela Scanlon, Mick McCarthy, Eamonn Holmes, Imelda May and Barry McGuigan.
But for some, there was disappointment as they showed up at the venue to find the event had been oversubscribed, and were subsequently turned away.
A shambles. Queued for 2.5 hours @RTELateLateShow, constantly told we would get in, hundreds turned away with no apology. @RTEPress staff were rude. Overscribing essential but not like this with elderly & pregnant women. What London Irish community? @ApplauseStoreUK @rtenews pic.twitter.com/ASfdyJBOAW
— Pádraig Prendergast (@prendergast) October 12, 2018
An RTÉ spokesperson told JOE that the tickets were allocated through a UK company called Applause Store. They stated that have to oversubscribe shows to cover anyone who doesn’t attend.
“Audience Tickets for The Late Late Show in London were allocated and managed by UK based company Applause Store,” the RTÉ spokesperson said.
“Applause Store are ticket specialists for UK TV audiences.
“Tickets were allocated to applicants stating that it was not a guarantee of entry but seats would be allocated on the night on a first come first served basis.
“This is standard in UK TV audience management. However such was the demand for this one off show that more people were left disappointed than expected.”
Speaking on the event, Applause Store Audience Manager Mathew First said: “We have to oversubscribe our tickets to cover any no shows as all of them are free of charge and sadly not everyone uses them.
“We have, however, experienced a higher than normal turn-up rate which has meant that regrettably we could not accommodate everyone with a seat in the venue. The demand for Late Late Show tickets is unprecedented.”
Below is a screenshot of the terms and conditions from the tickets distributed for the event.
Image via RTÉ
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