Television McDermott is a fluent speaker of the
Irish language and originally started his media career on TG4's
POP4, a music request and top 40 show. This was followed by a role in TG4's youth drama
Seacht, in which he played the lead role of Pete. From here he progressed to
POP4, a weekly chart music show with live bands. Other presenting credits followed, including
Frenemies – a youth debate game show for
RTÉ2 and
Immeal Geall, a bilingual magazine show for
BBC Northern Ireland. He co-presented a series of
The Movie Show on
RTÉ2, which started in November 2012. In 2008, McDermott entered
MTV UK's
Pick Me MTV competition, but lost out to
Laura Whitmore. In September 2013, McDermott had his UK television debut, fronting UK reality show
Celebrity Super Spa for
Channel 5. Other credits include a 2013 highlight show
Totes Amazeballs and ''Next Year's News
, a satirical comedy-panel show anticipating big news stories for the year ahead. Both series broadcast on RTÉ2. He has co-presented The Voice of Ireland with Kathryn Thomas since its inception. For season 3 of The Voice
, McDermott fronted a live spin-off show on RTÉ2. He filmed a new series entitled Drunk'' for RTÉ2 in summer 2014, examining the effects of alcohol on the body and mind. In 2015, he began hosting
Junior Eurovision Eire, Ireland's national selection programme for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest, which he hosted from 2015 to 2019, Ireland did not participate in 2020 and Louise Cantillon replaced him as host in 2021. He also filmed a pilot episode for a UK game show in
Paris, which was made by the team behind
Gogglebox. In June 2020, he hosted the
telethon event
RTÉ Does Comic Relief, held to raise funds during the
COVID-19 pandemic. McDermott has also narrated the reality dating series
Love Island Australia. On 20 September 2020, ITV Australia announced Stephen Mullan would replace him on Love Island Australia as "the narrator".
Acting McDermott played the lead role of "DJ Pete" in all four series of the joint TG4/
BBC Northern Ireland production,
Seacht, a teen drama. In his first year, McDermott's show was syndicated to
XFM Manchester. Shortly after, he was nominated for "Best Newcomer" in the national commercial radio awards, sponsored by
Arqiva. In April 2012,
The Guardian newspaper, whilst discussing the new appointment of
Greg James on BBC Radio1 Drivetime, claimed McDermott's show was the best DriveTime radio show of its genre in the UK. It coincided with a management change and the departure of
Mary Anne Hobbs to
6 Music and Breakfast presenter
Danny Wallace – although in a Twitter post shortly after his departure McDermott noted his final listenership figures were a record high. Although online speculation suggested a move to
BBC Radio 1, this never materialised. In June 2014, it was announced that McDermott would present a show on
RTÉ 2fm radio on the 710am slot on Saturday and Sunday starting on 6 July. Three months later, it was announced that he would stand in for
Louise McSharry on the station's weekday evening slot for the next few months while she receives treatment for cancer. In September 2015, McDermott took over from the Driveby show from
Colm Hayes under a two-year contract. In June 2019, McDermott began presenting the
new breakfast show on RTÉ 2fm alongside
Doireann Garrihy. On 8 March 2021, RTÉ officially confirmed that McDermott had left his 2FM role after 3 weeks of "unplanned leave" and that he would not be returning due to the expiry of his contract.
Mental health advocacy McDermott gives talks throughout Ireland at various events about mental illness. He made a video on the topic of
self-harm for
Pieta House in 2014, in which he referred to his own experience and later explained: "When you see first-hand what they are up to I thought it was a bit disingenuous to be preaching their merits without being honest about my own stuff... I'm not looking for praise, beyond feeling that it was worthwhile. You don't want to do that and have it go under the radar either. Not that you're looking for attention... If you feel you're going to put yourself out there... and you know you might upset people you're close to it's nice to feel it was worthwhile.". ==Personal life==