Derval O'Rourke: Behind the scenes of Ireland’s Fittest Family

— the low-down on who's a fan of the on-set sausage rolls and who does a secret course recce to try get the upper hand

Ireland's Fittest Family: Davy Fitzgerald, Derval O'Rourke, Anna Geary and Donncha O'Callaghan with Mairead Ronan

This year will be the 9th series of Ireland's Fittest Family: it hits your screens tomorrow at 6.30pm on RTÉ One. I’ve been a coach on the show for six of those nine years and want to share with you some behind-the scenes insider information that you won’t hear anywhere else!

How do you qualify to compete?

Each year there is a call-out for families to take part and a huge amount of applications are sifted through. Each family must have a female and a parent. After the application process, there is a fitness assessment that ensures the families will be able to complete all the tasks. 100s of families apply but only a handful will make it to the television stage of the competition. More than 100 families have appeared on the show in the past nine years.

Who sets up the events?

There is an events team that works behind the scenes in the months and weeks leading up to the competition. For example, the 'pontoons of pain', a water-based challenge, takes two full days to set up with the team working late into the night to build it. This events team works with competition referee Paul O’Donovan. None of the coaches knows what the events will be before the competition day. Davy Fitzgerald has been known to do late-night recces of the courses to try to get the upper hand!

Where is Ireland's Fittest Family filmed?

Until two years ago the show was filmed all over the country: travelling from Crosshaven in Cork to Sligo airport. With the emergence of Covid 19, the show needed to adapt and has been in the same venue for two years — Kilruddery estate in Bray, County Wicklow. Each individual event takes place in a different area of Kilruddery Estate. The estate is vast, covering 800 acres. The vastness of the estate means that events take place in loads of different locations and terrains. And for each event there needs to be access to a portaloo. This means every time a race is happening there is a portaloo hidden somewhere near the course out of sight of the cameras — often covered in camouflage netting!

How is the extensive footage captured?

There are 12 cameras and 20 go pros (durable, action cameras that can be mounted to different surfaces) for every race. This means every single angle is captured and nothing gets missed. Whether families are racing over hay bales or jumping over walls there are multiple cameras — including ones on people's helmets — to capture the action. The cameramen do an amazing job at getting the best shots of the action. There are 100-plus people working as part of the show, it’s an incredible crew of people behind the scenes and the attention to detail is second to none. In my opinion, it is the crew that absolutely makes this show a success.

What do we eat?

The days start early on Ireland's Fittest Family with lots of crew members on-site from 6am. The coaches and families tend to arrive at 7am. The filming days are long and this means that we eat all our meals on-site. There is a fantastic catering crew that keeps us going all day long. The day starts with breakfast rolls and cereal options from early, there is an all-day snacking table and we eat a big meal with dessert in the middle of the day. On every shoot day, catering arrives at the start of the races with sausage rolls, sandwiches and soups. Donncha O’Callaghan is a big fan of the 6 o’clock sausage rolls!

I’ll be sharing lots of behind the scenes on my instagram account (dervalo.rourke) in the weeks ahead so if you’ve any more questions please do drop me a message there.

And here's a recipe that is sure to supercharge your family mealtimes.

Healthier lasagne

recipe by:Derval O'Rourke

Lasagne is a dish that is regularly served on the set of Ireland's Fittest Family. This is my go-to lasagne recipe

Servings

6

Preparation Time

 40 mins

Cooking Time

 60 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• For the tomato sauce:

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 carrot, peeled and finely chopped

• 1 celery stick, finely chopped

• 1 onion, finely chopped

• 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

• 3 garlic cloves, crushed

• 400g tin tomatoes

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• For the cheese sauce:

• 200 ml milk

• 2 tbsp butter

• 1 bay leaf

• ½ tsp nutmeg

• 2 tbsp flour (white flour or spelt flour)

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1 tbsp natural yoghurt

• 25g Cheddar, grated

• salt and pepper

• For the lasagne:

• 2 tbsp olive oil

• 800g mince

• A handful of basil leaves

• 150g lasagne sheets

Method

1. First, make the tomato sauce. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.

2. Add the carrot, celery, onion, pepper, oregano and garlic and cook for about six minutes — add a dash of water if the pan becomes dry.

3. Add in the tomatoes and 300ml of water. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and purée the sauce.

4. Next, make the cheese sauce. Place the milk, butter, bay leaf and nutmeg in a small pan. Slowly heat the milk until the point at which it is about to boil.

5. Remove the bay leaf and sieve in the flour. Use a whisk to blend the flour into the milk, do this until it begins the thicken.

6. Remove from the heat and add the egg and yoghurt and whisk until it is smooth. Sprinkle in the cheddar and season to taste.

7. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. You will need a large lasagne dish. Heat the oil over a medium heat in a large pot.

8. Add the mince and cook for about 10 minutes, until browned. Stir in the tomato sauce and basil.

9. Pour half the mince into the lasagne dish. Top with a layer of lasagne sheets.

10. Pour the rest of the mince and top with a second layer of lasagne sheets. Pour the cheese sauce on top.

11. Place the lasagne dish in the oven and cook for about 20 minutes, until golden and bubbling.

12. Leave the cooked lasagne to stand for five minutes. Divide between warmed serving plates.

Wellness Tip: This week's wellness tip is something that I consider to be hugely important for families on Ireland's Fittest Family and it is communication! The family members who communicate really well with each other and their coaches are the ones who from my experience perform the best and get the most enjoyment out of the competition. They verbalise their thoughts pre-race and they listen to each other.

Movement of the week: Back against the wall. You can do this exercise anywhere you have access to a flat wall. Start with your back against a wall with your feet shoulder-width apart and about 2 feet from the wall. Engage your abdominal muscles and slowly slide your back down the wall until your thighs are parallel to the ground. Adjust your feet so your knees are directly above your ankles (rather than over your toes). Keep your back flat against the wall. Hold the position for 20 to 60 seconds.  Slide slowly back up the wall to a standing position. Rest 30 seconds and repeat the exercise three times. Increase your hold time by five seconds as you increase your strength.