Donncha O’Callaghan: 'I thought the days of bouncing out of bed were gone'

The former Ireland rugby star says his new RTÉ series has reignited his competitive spirit and given him a new team environment

Donncha O’Callaghan: I'm loving being in the entertainment industry. Picture: Chani Anderson 

Not content with coaching families through fitness challenges and devilish obstacle courses in TV favourite  Ireland’s Fittest Family, Donncha O’Callaghan is throwing himself into the action with his new show Donncha’s Away Games.

We’re meeting over Zoom and when I ask him about his latest project, his face lights up.

“I know this sounds a bit corny, but I’ve done a lot since I’ve retired and this genuinely has been the most enjoyable project I’ve worked on.”

The former Ireland lock, who retired in 2018 after a 20-year rugby career, is relishing the opportunity to be part of a team again. “It was the closest thing to getting me back in the dressing room,” he tells me.

Kicking off tomorrow at 7.30pm on RTÉ One, Away Games will see O’Callaghan teaming up with six celebrities – Olympic boxer Kellie Harrington, Ireland Rugby 7s star Jordan Conroy, comedian Emma Doran, former Ireland rugby international Tommy Bowe, Young Offenders actor Hilary Rose, and Dancing with the Stars judge Oti Mabuse.

Donncha O'Callaghan and boxer Kellie Harrington in Donncha's Away Games

In each episode, they will travel to a European country and take part in a local game or tradition.

“We were throwing on the green jerseys and representing Ireland in the most ridiculous, wacky, weird games. Between building bathtubs in Belgium with Tommy Bowe to wrestling Vikings in Iceland with Kellie Harrington, it was a bit bananas, but I loved it.”

He also takes on the Highland Games in Scotland with Conroy, wife-carrying in Finland with Doran, Greek folk dancing in Greece with Mabuse, and making paella in Spain with Rose.

Naturally, there is the hilarity of watching Bowe and O’Callaghan battle to make, then sail, a bathtub down a river in Belgium. “He scored the most amazing try I’ve ever seen in a Grand Slam final, but the bathtubs are up there with it for me.” Or when the former rugby star competed in a wife-carrying race, with Doran holding on to him for dear life. “There’s one [hold] called ‘the Estonian’ where Emma puts her legs around my head and her head goes down near my arse and I have to run and hope I don’t drop her.” In a similar vein to the popular Uncharted with Ray Goggins, Away Games will see O’Callaghan and a celebrity companion being pushed outside their comfort zones. But that’s where the Corkman says the gold is – the bonds that are formed and the conversations that are had outside of what most will see as their safe space.

Corkman Donncha O’Callaghan dances in the rain in front of the iconic shakey bridge in Cork: Picture: Chani Anderson

“I won’t forget some of the conversations I had with Kellie Harrington,” he says. “We all see a two-time Olympic champion, but heavy is the head that wears the crown, there’s an awful lot that comes with all that.”

Despite some of the physically demanding challenges, the task where O’Callaghan says he struggled the most was Greek folk dancing.

“I promise you, I’ve never been as nervous in my life as I was doing Greek folk dancing – my shirt was clung to me.” This is the first time, too, that the Corkman will front a show – taking on presenting duties as well as getting involved in the action. He confesses he didn’t know how difficult the job was until he had to do it.

“It’s given me a massive appreciation for the people that are brilliant at it that we take for granted – the Kathryn Thomases, the Patrick Kieltys, the Ryan Tubridys.”

Despite the steep learning curve, he enjoyed the presenting, even if it did highlight areas where he struggled, like memorising lines. He has a plan for that, though. “I made a note to contact Christy Moore about [his tactics] for remembering all his songs… I need Christy’s help.”

Also on the cards is getting better at doing links to camera while on the move. At one point, he had to do a link to camera while on a horse. “I’ve never ridden a horse in my life and suddenly I’m having to do that while talking to camera.” Ever the sportsperson, O’Callaghan is determined to improve on the skills he’s picked up. “Now that I know broadly how to do [the presenting], it’s shame on me if I don’t improve. And if I can improve and get better, maybe that opens an opportunity to do something else.”

I wouldn’t put it past O’Callaghan to conquer presenting. Since retiring in 2018, he has moved seamlessly into the entertainment world, first at RTÉ 2FM. “I was fortunate with opportunities. Dan Healy at 2FM gave me a leg up when probably no one else would go near me, and that kind of built a bit of confidence.” He recalls chatting with former teammate Paul O’Connell about how difficult it was to practice when it came to radio presenting. “When the red light would go on, I’d get a kind of weakness in my voice, that’s when you know you’re chatting to the nation. Paul used to tell me to practise before going live, but it doesn’t work that way – you have to make your mistakes live on air.”

Fortunately, O’Callaghan is the kind of person who doesn’t take himself too seriously. He’s not afraid of making mistakes or looking silly – who will ever forget when his rugby shorts ripped in the middle of a Munster game in Cardiff and O’Callaghan tried to play on in just his red underpants?

He laughs at this memory himself all the time, he says. And there are many more ridiculous situations he has found himself in over the years. He sees these as “learning moments”.

“Everyone tries to put out this perfect image – as if they never get it wrong. I actually think the learnings are in the wars, the scars, the moments where you do get it wrong. I have no problem putting my hand up when I’m scared or frightened or don’t understand.”

In Away Games, when he was in Belgium with former teammate Bowe, O’Callaghan recalls a vulnerable moment where he had to do a zipline. “I’m not good with heights at all and during that challenge I was feeling so vulnerable. Tommy had never seen me that way and he actually didn’t know what to do. I was like, ‘you need to encourage me. I’m not okay here, I need you to help me through it’.” He says that, that moment, where he was visibly frightened in front of Bowe, actually “glued us a little bit”. The pair had never seen the other in that way, but it strengthened their bond.

In recent years, he’s successfully turned this side of his character into a popular children’s book series, Disaster Dad. The third book in the series – Disaster Dad: Animal Antics – will be published on September 25 and is based on “all the silly things that have happened to us going to Fota Wildlife Park over the years”. O’Callaghan has four children with his wife, Jennifer – three girls and a boy, ranging in age from 11 to 16. He is very much disaster dad – the lead character of the books.

He tells me about a time in Fota where he got trapped in the butterfly room (“I locked myself in there by accident”). It’s these vulnerabilities and lack of ego that draw people to O’Callaghan. When we chat, he’s self-deprecating and engaging. It’s not difficult to see why celebrities like Harrington would open up to him.

The format and the challenges of Away Games led people to be open and trusting with each other, O’Callaghan surmises. Sharing a unique task, while representing Ireland, means people moved below the surface level of conversation fairly quickly, he says.

“You see Hilary Rose’s character in Young Offenders on TV, but there’s such depth to her beyond that; such a care for wellness and her family.” And Mabuse, who joined the judging panel on Dancing with the Stars last year, chatted openly about her brother “who passed away when she was quite young.”

Donncha O’Callaghan: I know all the families want to win Ireland's Fittest Family, but I'd rather them have a brilliant summer than being miserable or nervous. Picture: Chani Anderson

Mabuse was instrumental in getting O’Callaghan to “drop his guard” when they were doing the Greek folk dancing. “She said to me, ‘you’re used to trying to look imposing, but you have to let that go. You’re not willing to do that yet, so I’m going to sit over here and when you decide you’re ready, give me a shout’.” O’Callaghan says he appreciated the honesty with all the celebrities, and in many ways, he says they pushed each other.

“You’ll see a bit more depth to all of us, and I feel like I have a different relationship now with them all.”

Some years ago, O’Callaghan says he had the bones of the idea for the show, but the opportunity to develop it with RTÉ only came up recently, and he worked with production company ShinAwil to “flesh it out a little”.

He’s a familiar face at RTÉ these days. The upcoming new series of Ireland’s Fittest Family, which will be back for its 14th series in October, will be his ninth season as a coach. He loves it.

“You’re helping and trying to assist the family, and then I would have a different style than maybe the other coaches. I like when we’re competing for us to give it everything, but when we’re away from it, to have a brilliant experience. I know [the families] are all mad to win it, and I want to win it too, but I’d rather they came away having had a brilliant summer that they’ll remember forever, rather than just being stuck in a forest, being miserable or nervous.”

This sums O’Callaghan up. He’s big on fun, silliness and ‘craic’, but he’s also team-oriented, which comes from his rugby career, and enjoys building relationships. He tells me that his new project has reawakened his “competitive itch”, particularly given that they were wearing the green jerseys and representing Ireland. It’s clear when we chat that he relished being back in that team environment.

What’s next on the cards for O’Callaghan? I get the impression he’d love to do more series of Away Games, but he’s also open to different opportunities.

When he left “the bubble” of the rugby support system, “the stabilisers came off and you find you’re very much on your own”.

“I made a goal for myself when I finished rugby to stand independently of it, and I think I’ve kind of done that.”

He says he thought he’d never match the feeling rugby gave him. “I genuinely thought those days of bouncing out of bed and doing what I love were gone, but now I’m in this industry of entertainment, and I’m really enjoying, I’m loving it.”

• Donncha’s Away Games starts Sunday at 7.30pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player