Tales of the unexpected at Rose of Tralee
WHEN infamous US showbiz blogger Perez Hilton took a sudden shine to the Rose of Tralee in 2011, no one was overly surprised.
While the celebrity stalker was dumbstruck by Dublin Rose Siobheal Nic Eochaidh’s liberal interpretation of hip-hop, Irish audiences have grown to expect the bizarrely unexpected at the event.
For 54 years, the jewel in Tralee tourism’s crown has always included a slight glimmer of the unusual. But while the festival is often criticised for its “out of touch” antics, what is rarely stated is these are key to what makes it must-watch TV. Even if it is watched between the cracks in your fingers.
Ch-ch-check it out
In 2011, Dublin Rose Siobheal Nic Eochaidh became an overnight internet sensation when the brunette beauty decided — in hindsight, perhaps unwisely — to bust a move live on-stage in her bid to win the annual competition.
The apparently cringe-worthy moment’s transformation from bizarre Irish TV gold to worldwide infamy was helped in no small part by US blogger Perez Hilton.
Writing on his highly influential website, the acid-tongued blogger said the performance was a work of genius. Well, sort of.
“What the hell is this. We have no idea but it’s totally making our day,” the celebrity stalker wrote, adding: “Instead of the typical Irish dancing we’re used to seeing, the Dublin rose busted out a mean hip hop routine. Or at least we think it’s supposed to be hip hop... Whatever it is, it makes us happy! Ch-ch-check it out.”
The clip, which can be watched at www.irishexaminer.com, has already been viewed more than half a million times, but has failed to be embraced by Fiddy, Kanye or Jay-Z. If it’s any consolation, Siobheal, we hear Vanilla Ice loved it.
Among the immediate online reactions to Perez Hilton’s post were those from Irish people living in North America, who said they had hoped to “escape this kind of embarrassment” by emigrating.
Others, however, pointed out they would still “rather watch that holy mess of a dance than one of Micheal Flatley’s”.
Udder cow-tastrophe
The following year was the scene of another unexpected moment, although TV viewers were luckily spared the sight.
During the first of two live TV shows, host Daithí Ó Se — more from him later — and RTÉ bosses plotted a tongue-in-cheek plan to help Ottawa Rose Avaleigh Eastman feel at home.
Unbeknown to the Canadian girl with the farming background, a milking cow called Daisy was being prepped for her big TV debut backstage.
Only it didn’t quite happen as hoped.
The exact reasons for why the farm animal never made it onto the stage as planned cannot be detailed in a family newspaper.
But it is safe to assume Daisy suffered from some pre-show nerves and that puns like “pull the udder one” and “I calf believe it” were not the only items that had to be swept up off the floor.
It wasn’t like this in my day...
As a Kerry native, respected historian and a man who has close family ties to the festival dating back to its earliest days, Irish Examiner columnist Ryle Dwyer has witnessed firsthand some of its more unusual escapades.
“Back in 1974 there was one guy who fell out with the festival,” explained the author of Rose of Tralee: 50 years a’ blooming. “The guy was involved in New Zealand travel but the festival said he’d left some girl over here so they removed him.
“A few weeks after the festival the Wigmore column at the back of the Sunday Press published these pictures of a New Zealand massage parlour called the ‘Rose of Tralee’ this guy set up. It claimed to specialise in escort services, a topless masseuse and ‘home and hotel calls’.
“There was another incident at the start of the festival, in 1959 or 1960, my mother [who played a central role in organising the early festivals] told me about.
“She was helping the judges’ wives when they went into a room in the Ashe Memorial Hall and found a man and a woman, alone, with the bed-sheet over the woman. The man said he was a doctor and ‘operating’ on her...”.
More recent incidents, he said, included a “guy in drag who said he should be allowed to enter” due to equality laws and a winning rose’s grandmother who suffered foul-mouthed photographer abuse because her struggle to pose pushed him past deadline.
“They were saying ‘smile granny, smile granny’. Eventually he got up and shouted at her ‘for f**k sake, f**king smile granny.
“People who don’t come here think this it’s just a ‘lovely girls’ gimmick, but the festival itself is totally different,” Mr Dwyer said.
As most people know, host Daithi Ó Sé isn’t exactly immune from bizarre antics, either.
He met his future wife when as a rose she sang the “romantic” Jumbo Breakfast Roll song. He narrowly avoided collapsing into the Garda band when he decided to make one rose who had never worn high heels more comfortable by donning stilettos for the first time too, “in public anyway”. And let’s not forget cow-gate.
But the popular presenter insists the festival’s bizarre side is what keeps it entertaining.
“That side of things makes it. What I look forward to every year is the stuff nobody is expecting.” Be careful what you wish for.
