Comedian Karl Spain told how Love Island winner Greg O’Shea put Limerick back on the map after years of the city getting a bashing.
The 48-year old praised the rugby star and Maura Higgins for flying the flag for the Irish on the hit show.
Karl told the Irish Mirror: “I was hooked on Love Island last year, I was so proud of Greg, I met his father recently and he’s a gent.
“Greg grew up a few doors down from me, he put Limerick back on the map.
“We don’t always get represented in the best way on television, when I found out someone from Limerick was going into Love Island I was like, ‘Oh no’ then when I found out he was a solicitor who played rugby I did cartwheels.
“Everyone said he won €50,000 but he didn’t, he shared it with Amber.
“The Irish represent themselves so well on these programmes and Maura shone on the show too.”
The funnyman insisted Greg helped to shift the perception of his home county.
He said: “Whenever Limerick was shown on TV before, it was documentaries on the crime streets.
“I’ve lived here for over 40 years of my life, by choice, and the crime highlighted on telly is not the Limerick I know.
“Everyone just likes to have a place to have a go at, it’s the natural setting for people but I’m proud to be from Limerick.”
Karl is back on TV tonight on RTE Two at 10.30pm presenting Laughter In The Eyre – Vodafone Comedy Carnival Galway.
He said: “It’s all the stand-up and the different people, we were so thrilled to have Andrew Maxwell at the festival before he headed into the [I’m A Celeb] jungle.
“It was the biggest one to date, we had the likes of John Bishop and Bill Bailey headlining, we captured the colour of Galway too.”
