‘Betrayed’ Lottie Ryan axed from new Drivetime show & replaced with TikTok star

RTE has been accused of disrespecting the name of the late Gerry Ryan by badly treating his DJ daughter Lottie.

The Irish Sun can reveal Gerry’s girl feels “betrayed” after she was told she is being axed just a month after she took over the Drivetime show from The 2 Johnnies.

We can also reveal that the 38-year-old will be replaced by TikTok lip sync Kayleigh Trappe, 28, as early as this Friday.

Pals of Lottie say she is “devastated” and “feels used”.

They claim 2FM deflected attention away from the The 2 Johnnies departure last month with the smoke screen that Dancing With The Stars winner Lottie was finally being given her own show after 14 years with the station and would finally replace the duo on 2FM’s most listened to show.

An insider told The Irish Sun: “Lottie was the face of the new 2FM summer schedule but she was really only covering Drivetime for a month.

“She was shocked then when RTE issued a press release without consulting her and arranged a photo shoot with just 24 hours notice to big up her and co-presenter David O’Reilly as the replacements for The 2 Johnnies.

“There is a perception it was just spin to distract from Doireann Garrihy and The 2 Johnnies walking away from 2FM.”

An RTE press release stated how they were “strengthening up their schedule, with 2FM home-grown talent Lottie and David”.

The station added: “We have always been programmed with a mix of presenters who have learned their craft here, with some personalities from outside who have built a profile with younger audiences.”

But insiders claim that Monaghan comedian Kayleigh, who has amassed 288,000 followers on TikTok, was being courted.

Her popular skits include her take on Nadine Coyle’s infamous passport debacle on RTE’s Popstars.

A radio source told us: “Kayleigh could be on air as early as next Friday or the week after.

“Lottie will be gone. It will look like she was axed from her big show in less than a month.

“It will appear like another career disaster for Lottie after she lost out co-hosting Dancing With The Stars. But that’s not the case at all.

Some feel RTE was just cynically using their in-house presenting team who they are discarding again.”

LOTTIE ‘USED BY RTE’

Pals of Lottie say she now feels “confused and unprotected” in how they promoted her new show.

The source told us: “Lottie was used by RTE to get them out of a mess of bad publicity.

“She never had any problem filling in for anybody. She did nine months on Breakfast Republic filling in for Jennifer Zamparelli who was on maternity leave.

“But this was sold to the country as Lottie finally getting her own show and replacing The 2 Johnnies. She is now going to be axed.

“If her dad Gerry was around now he’d give RTE an earful over the treatment of his daughter.”

The Irish Sun contacted Lottie last night but she was unavailable for comment.

NEW SHOW TAKEN OFF HER

However, a source told us: “2FM sold this as the new summer schedule. It wasn’t. Lottie will be gone by the start of July and a TikToker will take over her show.

It’s devastating for Lottie and her co-host David, who will be going too.

“Lottie has has spent the last few week’s been congratulated about her new show – and now it’s going to be taken off her.”

Lottie is married to husband Fabio Aprile and the couple have son Wolf, born in 2021.

She kicked off her career as a reporter on 2FM’s Colm Hayes Show and did stints on RTE One’s Daily Show before becoming 2FM’s showbiz reporter.

In 2020 she scooped top prize on Dancing With The Stars, later hosting a DWTS podcast but losing out on the job of host to Doireann Garrihy in 2022.

RTE was asked for comment but declined to do so. We also contacted 2FM for a comment.