Demi Isaac joined 2FM in early 2025 and she’s made a big impact. Within a year, she has moved from her weekend slot to Drivetime Weekday with her co-host Mikey O’Reilly.
The duo are covering for Doireann Garrihy while she is on maternity leave. But Demi isn’t content just yet, her goal is to be a TV presenter. She even has her own TV show planned and we’re intrigued.
We sit down with Demi to chat about her new show The Big Pet Project, why she’ll always love acting and why being a chancer is the best thing in life…
Congratulations on The Big Pet Project. How did you get involved?
Kate from Hopkins Studio got in touch with me about the show. She said, “I have this show, and I think you would be perfect for it!” Then she asked how I felt about animals, and I am not a massive animal person. I’ve got two dogs, my nanny has dogs, but that’s as far as it goes. I don’t know how I feel about creepy crawlies, and she said, “I promise there won’t be anything really like that, it will be straightforward”. And now fast forward to filming, I’ve had a millipede crawling up my arm, I’ve held rats and I found out that I am actually an animal person; I just never had the opportunity to be introduced to so many different animals. But now I still have a fear of goats and horses, but nevertheless, I love animals now!
You got your start acting in The Young Offenders. For you, what’s the big difference in acting and presenting?
When you’re presenting, you are playing yourself. When I present, I am very genuine in how I do my thing and people now feel like they know me, which is an absolute blessing. Sometimes I am like, “Oh no I shouldn’t have said that!” I do enjoy presenting, I do enjoy acting, and I wouldn’t have one without the other, and I wish I could do them at the exact same time.
You joined 2FM this year, how has that been for you?
I went into 2FM through the RTÉ expression of interest. For the interview, there were four rounds. One of the rounds was when you submitted all your stuff and then we had an interview process. I didn’t hear anything for a while, but I got a call and I met Dan Healy and got the job a few weeks later, it was really quick. And I had never meet Mikey before, I think people think we were secretly best friends for years! But we didn’t know each other when we got landed with each other for this, and it is the best thing! Every time we talk on air, we get to know each other about something. Now he’s one of my best friends.
You started off in the weekend slot and now you are covering Doireann Garrihy’s Drivetime weekday slot. Weere you nervous?
They brought us in to cover Doireann’s show for one day a few months ago. I had just flown in from holidays and hadn’t slept, so I did the show with no sleep, but it went great! Then I get a call saying Doireann is going on maternity leave, just thinking they are having a conversation about Doireann. Then they were like, “We want you to take over with Mickey”, and I said, “Mow hold up a second, how does this logistically work?” It’s mad going straight from weekends, with a company you just started with, to weekdays. It is exciting! We got to interview the Coronas this week which was incredible.
You worked on Cork’s 96FM before 2FM. Did you always plan to do radio?
I did an interview for International Women’s Day back when I was 18. I am still doing the Leaving Cert, this was post Dancing with the Stars and pre-filming for Young Offenders seasons two and three so I am chocker-blocked. Two weeks after this, I get a phone call from Brendan O’Driscoll, who is the head of 96FM, and he said “When are you done the Leaving Cert? How would you feel about presenting a weekend show?” I never planned to be a radio presenter; I wanted to be a television presenter, and I still would love to be, I never thought about radio. I was 18 and I had started working on the radio every Saturday, and was doing that every Saturday, until I took the job with 2FM. So it was a quick turnaround. But I’m a chancer! I will chance my arm at anything. [Laughs]
You mention TV presenting as your dream. What is on your vision board?
I don’t know! I would like to think I would be great for something like Dancing with the Stars. I loveJennifer Zamparelli, and I think Laura Fox will do a great job at it at the moment. I would like to get involved with it in the coming years. I would love to have my version of the Late Late show in the coming years. [Laughs] I would just love a relaxed, chilled version, where everyone is relaxed, and we have different artists from different genres coming on to perform and to just have the craic. It’s like if I and three celebs went to a house party!
Okay we’re manifesting this! But tell us, is acting still on the cards?
I would never close the door on the acting world, they gave me the foot up to be where I am today. I am still open to acting, I am a chancer, as I sai,d but I would love to continue with acting. You just never know when the right role will come to you, and you do just have to wait it out.
Stream all episodes of The Big Pet Project on RTÉ Player now
