Room To Improve star Dermot Bannon has said celebrities cannot hide their real personalities on his shows – as he opens up about working with Julian Benson.
The former Dancing With The Stars judge, who was dubbed Captain Sparkles on the show – has enlisted the celebrity architect to refurbish a house in Rathgar in Dublin for families of Cystic Fibrosis (CF) patients in need of a home away from home during long hospital stays.
The renovation will be filmed as part of a new show – and Dermot opened up about working with Julian, after working with Donegal crooner Daniel O’Donnell.
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He told us: “The similarities between Julian and Daniel is that both their external shells is performance, that’s what they do and I suppose with Room To Improve, you do get the see a little bit of behind the scenes i.e. behind the personality – the real them.
“I think the country got to know the real Daniel through Room To Improve and they’ll probably do the same with the real Julian. I’ve probably got to know the real Julian now.
"He’s a lovely, lovely guy and he’s struggling with CF himself. This is a real passion project for him, and I just think when you see behind all the glitz and the glamour of show business, the real person is different.”
Dermot also opened up about the extensive building work they have to do on the “manky” apartment block in Rathgar - but said he is not charging for his time.
He said the pair are solely relying on charitable donations to get the project finished. The pair have currently raised over €65,000 out of a half a million euro goal.
“No I’m not charging,” he confirmed.
“The design is done. We’re in the middle of filming it. It’s not as easy as a regular Room To Improve project because with a regular Room To Improve project, you meet a couple, they have a budget. So you get through the design process, you get through the planning process. We know that there is money there to do the project.
“But with this we’ve got here as far as we can without money so it’s going to be a call out to get money to get help and get people involved.
“It’s a beautiful old building but it is in bits.
“The place is in manky flats, like the bathrooms are disgusting so they need to be ripped out. If we can get this beautiful old house back to its former glory, I think it’ll be an amazing refuge for families who have kids or family members in hospital.
“For CF, if you have it, you are in hospital most of your life in spells and with that, not everyone lives in Dublin and not everybody has easy access to a hospital.”
Julian previously said that he discovered there wasn’t a facility for the families of CF patients to stay in and he wants to change that.
“I wanted to do something that would be meaningful and make a difference for CF, so I decided to set up the charity and start the journey,” he said.
“Essentially, there will be four, two-bedroom apartments. Two family members will be able to stay in each apartment. We hope to be able to house up to 10 people.
“The Irish public have been amazing; we’ve covered a lot of miles in a very short time. We’re a small charity with a big heart. The Irish are the kindest people in the world.
“We’ve had people wanting to help with floors, electricians, plumbers, roofers, we’ve been offered a lot, but we still need a lot.
“There’s a lot of people offering their labour and time, including a lady wanting to make tea and sandwiches and come to the building site. It’s lovely,” he added.
You can donate to the Julian Benson Cystic Fibrosis Foundation here.
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