Hector Ó hEochagáin has become a household name in Ireland for his madcap antics as Gaeilge, including a trip to the Playboy mansion, stripping with the Chippendales and hanging a seven kilo weight from a sensitive area. And now the Navan-born TG4 presenter is set to broaden his fan-base with a show based on his trip down under, which has been nominated for a prestigious award.

Hector's love affair with the Irish language began many years ago but it's had its share of peaks and troughs. Hector's mother was a Galway native, so he spent many summers visiting the West. When the time came to go to college, he decided to study Old Irish at Trinity College Dublin but "failed miserably" and decided to take a different direction.

After working as a fisherman on Inis Meáin, Hector decided to leave Ireland. He took a trip to the Basque region of Northern Spain, where he spent four years teaching English. As well as teaching languages, he was also learning them and is now a fluent Spanish speaker.

He then returned to Ireland and began his first presenting job for TG4 in 1996. Since then, he has filmed numerous travel shows in the Irish language all over the world, including America, Australia and Asia, bringing his own unique style across the globe. He is very happy at the station and has no plans to move elsewhere, he says.

"I have been with TG4 since 1996 and I think it's brilliant, a great company. They have so many great shows and all in our native language, it's great that it has become so successful," he says. Hector's travel series has developed a reputation for showing parts of the world that are usually 'off the beaten track' and viewers have definitely come to expect the unexpected. Of his trips so far, he says Brazil and Vietnam have been among his favourites and a recent series on Australia has just been nominated for a prestigious award at this year's Irish Film and Television Awards.

"Filming 'Mo Rogha an Oz' was fantastic and we've just heard that we are up for an award for that at this year's IFTAs. It is the closest we are going to get to the Oscars, so it's great to get a chance to pull on the aul suit and walk down the red carpet!"

Viewers of Hector's programmes have seen the presenter get himself into a number of weird and wonderful situations, but he says that, despite the variety of things he has to do on the show, he doesn't find anything strange any more.

"The Playboy Mansion and hanging out with Hugh Hefner and the bunnies was pretty strange. Stripping off with the Chippendales was fairly strange as well, I suppose. I don't really find things strange anymore. You have to take a hold and embrace the strangeness of the situation."

"One of the oddest things to happen would probably have been when we met the body builder who could hang 70 kilos off his willy. Ask any farmer, that's the weight of a good bull calf or a fine bundle of Galway Independent's hanging between your legs! I hung five off of mine then as well. Later on, we did an interview on the Late Late Show and that was the first question he asked me. I just thought 'I'm on the Late Late and Pat Kenny is asking me about putting weights on my willy', I knew my day would come! So instead of saying balls, I said liathroidí and that's kinda where it all started."