Rose of Tralee has 'a few surprises' in store as the festival kicks off in Kerry

Host Dáithí Ó Sé says there's nowhere else he'd rather be tonight than in the iconic dome

Mon, 22 Aug, 2022 - 20:57

Maeve Lee

Tralee was buzzing with excitement on Monday morning as the Kerry town prepared to kick off one of the biggest nights in Irish television.

With the festival being cancelled for both 2020 and 2021, the anticipation was palpable as market stalls started to set up shop along the town's main street below the famous Rose of Tralee lights and plenty of green and yellow flags.

This year’s contestants and their escorts arrived in Co Kerry on Friday following a lengthy eight-day tour across the country, concluding in Cork.

Ahead of the first of two live shows showcasing this year’s 33 roses alongside plenty of weird and wonderful talents, host Dáithí Ó Sé promised there would be one or two surprises in store.

Florida Rose Jennifer Waldeck and her escort Caleb Cafolla take flight

“We have been chatting to the roses over the past few weeks and they have made us laugh and even cry – because there is some really serious stuff inside there as well as some really heartfelt items, there is some crazy stuff inside there,” he said.

“It is a mixed bag like, it's six hours of television so it is a cross-section of everything. It is a mixed bag and we have a few surprises ourselves – and a few icy moments.”

Let’s hope the new venue at Munster Technological University’s Kerry Sports Academy has plenty of space backstage – and some privacy – for Ó Sé’s unusual preshow ritual.

Rose escorts Cian Rohan, Caleb Cafolla and James McLaughlin

"I do walk around with the shirt tux, the shirt, pair of boxer shorts and then my socks before I put on my pants. It is just a thing in order that I have. That is the only kind of ritual I have, and it is a good luck thing that like has worked out well before."

Monday night will mark Ó Sé’s eleventh year presenting the Rose of Tralee and it’s fair to say he has been part of some pretty memorable moments, including that unforgettable proposal back in 2013. This year will be no different as the Kerry man is planning to get stuck in with a couple of party pieces, which he says are his favourite part of the week.

“There are always one or two party pieces that I am involved in and I think the planning and the execution of that is something that is really, really good. I think people watching the Monday night show will kind of get what I mean,” he teased.

Louth Rose Emma Barry, Florida Rose Jennifer Waldeck and Derry Rose Áine Morrison get their heads in a spin

It is probably for the best that Ó Sé, who spent some time as a ringmaster at Duffy’s Circus, sticks to the presenting side of things. If he was to don the sash himself and coordinate his own party piece, chances are it would involve showing off his skills with some wild animals.

But if he could have his pick from one job in the entertainment industry, he wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

“Hosting the Rose of Tralee is probably one of the best of them like. You can say what you want, it is one of the biggest shows of the whole summer, huge interest in it, a great local interest in it being from Kerry and also it is an opportunity to go home, and it is something that I really, really like doing and it is one of the top entertainment jobs in the country when it comes to presenting – and I have it.”