Alan Hughes (born 19 October 1963[citation needed]) is an Irish television personality, pantomime actor and producer. He works for Virgin Media and appears on Ireland AM. He also hosted Family Fortunes from 2012 to 2014.[1]
In the 1990s, he hosted the RTÉ game show Talk About for three years.[2]
Since the 1990s, Hughes has co-produced and starred in pantomimes, usually playing the camp character Sammy Sausages with his "tanx a thousand!" catchphrase.[3]
In 2009, Hughes faced a health scare when there were fears he had stomach cancer.[4]
In September 2011, Hughes engaged in a civil partnership with his partner of 18 years, Karl Broderick, a songwriter, at the Unitarian Church in St Stephen's Green, Dublin.[5][6] The wedding, on the 18th anniversary of their meeting, was described by The Irish Times as the highest profile wedding since legislation permitting it to take place was brought in.[7] Close friend Derek Mooney was his best man.[8] The couple appeared on The Saturday Night Show soon afterwards in their first public interview together.[9]
Hughes was nominated in the Favourite Male TV Presenter category at the 2009 TV Now Awards.[4]
Looking at Alan's slick new image for the show, is it likely that his signature deckchair jackets from his RTÉ Talkabout days will resurface? "I'd nearly go to someone in publicity in RTÉ and bribe them to burn every picture!
Despite denying similarities between the two shows, insiders revealed that Derek, who was best man at Alan's partnership with Karl Broderick, has been feeling the heat and knows his show will be pitted against Alan's.