Fair City’s George McMahon revealed he and his wife were left mortified when a crazed fan lambasted him and called him a ‘cheating b*****d’ in a public restaurant.
Best known as Mondo in the RTE soap, George is a long-standing member of the cast, and is celebrating 20 years on screen this year.
And whilst his character has faced his fair share of drama on camera throughout the past two decades, he revealed he has also faced some himself off the screen.
The Dubliner, 36, told Irish Daily Mirror: “I remember I was in Bruxelles during the day having lunch, just off Grafton Street there, and I was meeting Rachel my wife for lunch, and the place was really, really quiet.
“There was a couple of pockets of people… but just out of nowhere, someone shouted across the place at me ‘There you are, ya cheating b*****d. And she’s married, and that is your best friend’s wife’.
“And I was thinking ‘oh my god’
“She didn’t even say ‘I’m only messing’ or whatever.
“So anyone there, and most of the people in Bruxelles were American tourists, so they would not know the context to this at all.
“I just got absolutely lambasted. So one by one I went around the tables to just explain,” he added, laughing.
The woman was so incensed at the storyline of his character Mondo on screen that she launched into him in real life while he was trying to enjoy a lunch date with his real life wife Rachel.
“She was like ‘What is going on here?,’ he laughed.
But the seasoned star is aware that dealing with passionate fans comes with the territory, and told how he even tries to think of it as a compliment.
The dad-of-two to three-year-old Frankie, and baby Kody, who also teaches kids drama on the side at his stage school, said: “They are so invested in the stories, and so invested in the characters.
“And in a long round about way, it is nice, you know.”
There is even more trouble in paradise for his character Mondo in tonight’s episode, as he has second thoughts about proposing to Melanie after seeing her son, Alex’s muted reaction.
George said he isn’t a huge social media enthusiast, but admits he loves to watch the discussions surrounding some of the divisive storylines.
“I’m only on Twitter and the odd time I’d see Fair City trending and I go ‘oh what have we done now’ and it is always great to see Fair City trending when there is a crescendo of a storyline and to watch the discussion online.
“You know, not everyone loves how things pan out.”
However, after joining the series in his teens, he admits he is glad he escaped the wrath of social media in his early days.
“But I am glad that social media wasn’t around when I was 18/19. I kind of feel sorry for people now in this industry nowadays because I suppose people tend to be either honest, or just brutal in their trolling for no reason.
“Luckily I haven’t come across much of that.”
Fair City airs Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays on RTE One at 8pm.
