RTÉ PRESENTER Ryan Tubridy took being in the right place at the right time to a whole other level this week with revelations that he had saved a baby whose pram was hurtling down an escalator after the pram’s strap snapped.
The host of the Late Late show detailed the experience on his RTE Radio One show, and seemed to downplay the incident, saying he didn’t want to make himself out as a hero.
The 46-year-old told listeners that he was at his local shopping centre, which had had been undergoing renovations for some time. The escalators, which were flat rather than having steps, had been stopped to allow for the works.
The escalators were not moving but shoppers were still able to climb them manually, and Tubridy was at the bottom of the escalator when the incident occurred.
He said:
“So I was at the bottom of [the escalator], looking up towards the top and this all happened in slow motion.
At the very top, there was a mum with a buggy, with a child of about 18 months in the buggy, eating what looked like a cinnamon swirl.
Child happy, mother hassled, box under the arm, holding the buggy, but there was a strap she was holding the buggy by.
Then, split second, the strap snapped open. The buggy was released, I look up and all I see hurtling down the escalator is runaway baby with cinnamon swirl snapped in half.
I crouched, put my arms out and stopped the buggy in its tracks."
The TV presenter did it without thinking, and said the grateful mother didn’t seem to recognise him and was just happy he had been there to protect her child. A witness to the incident told Tubridy he had been “The right man in the right place”.
Tubridy described the incident as “just one of those things”—nobody was at fault, and “thankfully everything was okay”.
Ryan Tubridy returns to Irish screens tonight for the first episode of the new season of The Late Late Show where he will interview comedian Aisling Bea, singer Sinéad O’Connor, and Love Island stars Greg O’Shea and Maura Higgins—but it’s possible Tubs’ heroic tale will also be a big talking point.
From abroad, you can watch tonight’s Late Late Show on RTÉ Player.
