Dancing D’Arcy pulls in 852,000 viewers
D'Arcy proved he's hip to groove by joining in with Dubai Rose Rachel Barrett, before giving New Orleans Rose Jenna Burke a lesson in the moves seen in every Irish nightclub on a Saturday night.
Tralee has proved a very happy hunting ground for the Kildare man, and he helped quash rumours of a continued demise in the popularity of the event by drawing in a massive television audience.
At one stage 852,000 viewers tuned into the show on RTÉ One, g a phenomenal 62% share and organisers attribute the success to their affable presenter.
About 461,000 viewers tuned into the first part of the show, and the figure rose to 742,000 after the nine o'clock news, peaking in the last half-hour. This shows a huge increase on last year's figures, which were 314,000 for the first half and 647,000 for the second.
Festival spokesman Ted Keane predicted that a record of a million viewers could be set when the final figures are released by RTÉ later today, and praised D'Arcy's part in the event's success.
"Some of the Rose centres throughout the world can be very critical of presenters, but they've all been delighted with Ray," said Mr Keane. "All the Roses were fond of him too. They praised him for his warmth and attention to detail, and said he made them feel at ease."
Mr Keane added that the festival is beginning to find its feet again after the
financial difficulties that have plagued it over the last few years.
"We've said it will take three to five years for our plan to work, but we know the interest is there. For example, a couple of years ago in Cork there were just 12 entrants, while this year there was 60-odd," he said.
While local businesses and hotels have complained that visitor numbers to the town continue to fall, Mr Keane has urged them to be patient as organisers remarket the festival to aim it at families.
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