D’Arcy to host Rose of Tralee
Having struck up a bond on children’s television with non-human stars such as Dustin, he faces the new challenge safe in the knowledge there’ll be no turkeys on stage to rattle him.
The 40-year-old TodayFM radio presenter takes over from 2FM’s Ryan Tubridy.
A delighted D’Arcy said: “I’m really excited about the whole thing. Like most of the country, I’ve watched the Rose of Tralee over many years and it’s great to be a part of what is a uniquely Irish television event.”
The Kildare man, who quit children’s TV in the late 1990s to move to the independent radio station, was back on RTÉ screens over the past three years hosting You’re A Star - a show seeking out Ireland’s Eurovision Song Contest entry. RTÉ yesterday described the late August spectacle in Tralee as a contemporary broadcasting phenomenon, revealing it featured annually among the top 15 most-watched television programmes.
Broadcast live from The Festival Dome, the show features young ladies from around the world vying for the Rose title.
A psychology graduate from Trinity College, D’Arcy’s biography shows a close association on the airwaves with aliens, blue dogs, sock monsters and a dangerously sharp turkey.
His broadcasting career was launched on RTÉ Two’s teen magazine show Jo Maxi which later led to a long stint on the children’s programme, The Den.
But he proved his versatility and tolerance for non-human co-stars in surviving eight years during the 1990s with various permutations of aliens from Zig and Zag to Dustin and from a blue dog Zuppy to a sock monster Soky.
D’Arcy also presented over 600 episodes of Blackboard Jungle and one series of Bon Voyage.
Tubridy’s departure from hosting the Rose contest, after just two seasons, aroused much public speculation about a successor.
D’Arcy had, however, been tipped as an outsider at 12-1 with the bookies.
The live broadcast from Tralee will be screened on RTÉ One on Monday and Tuesday, August 22 and 23.
