Women who are ‘less blessed’ physically don’t get newsreader jobs, says Pat Kenny

Pat Kenny has said that while "there are a lot of ugly men" reading the news in Ireland, women who are "less blessed" aren't likely to get the job.

Veteran broadcaster Pat said he doesn't know why only attractive women are hired as newsreaders. He has dubbed this the "frog and the princess syndrome" but said he'd like to see someone in the job on merit.

"There is a general movement internationally if you look at news bulletins that they are presented by women, and I suppose it’s very hard to say what’s an attractive looking women or not," he told The Irish Sun. "But I think we all know that if you are less blessed, you wouldn’t get the job, as a woman, and strangely there are a lot of ugly men. "So I don’t know whether it’s the frog and the princess syndrome. That seems to be a fashion or trend, whether that will ever change. "I would always like to think someone gets a job on their ability, irrespective of whether they’re homely or otherwise."

He also weighed in on who might next be the host of The Late Late Show. Pat, who took over the reins from long-running presenter Gay Byrne, said it should simply be someone the public wants to watch.

"I don’t care whether they’re male or female, bi or trans, queer and all the other letters. It doesn’t matter what the gender of the host is as long as people like them doing it. "When you look at a news reader, you don’t say, that’s a woman or a man. You just say that’s a newsreader.”