“Hold Your Horses!” Failed Gay Marriage Proposal Upstages Live Racing Coverage

“Hold Your Horses!” Failed Gay Marriage Proposal Upstages Live Racing Coverage
Mary Madigan
By Mary Madigan



Irish Television presenters Gary O’Brien and Lisa O’Neill were trying to cover the horse racing, only to be upstaged by a failed marriage proposal!

Both O’Brien and O’Neill were covering the racing at Fairyhouse, discussing the horses and all sorts of important racing things, when a man appeared behind them and got down on one knee – yes he was proposing.

Live on television the man proposed assumedly to his boyfriend – the stuff of romantic comedies!

Except in an unexpected twist, his boyfriend appeared to reject his proposal and storm off –  honestly, the break-up seemed more dramatic than James Packer and Mariah Carey’s broken engagement.

The man that stormed off quickly disappeared from the cameraman’s view and we were left with the heartbroken one, who had to awkwardly stand up again.

It was like an episode of Love Island, except the island was replaced with a race track and the contestants were in their Sunday best.

The reporters either unware or just very very dedicated to their jobs continued reporting as normal as if someone just hadn’t had their heartbroken! Forget about the races, true love is on the line!

While punters and viewers watched the heartbroken man grapple with the fact the love of his life had just stormed off. Throw in a terminal illness and it’s the plot of a Nicholas Sparks book.

As the infamous, Dale Earnhardt said: “You win some, you lose some, you wreck some.”

Finally, O’Brien acknowledged the event behind him and said: “I think these two guys behind us are getting married!”

Either O’Brien wasn’t paying attention or he felt it was already okay to joke about such recent heartbreak.

However, in fabulous news, the whole thing turned out to be a joke.

The man that ran away returned to his heartbroken lover and with a gang of friends and they all jumped around together and celebrated the success of their skit. Male bonding I guess?

Seriously – they just started jumping.

Either way, I’m glad I didn’t just watch a rejected proposal on national television,  that would be far too much emotion for a Tuesday!




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Gary O'Brien Lisa O’Neill Racing TV

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