Rose of Tralee host Daithi O Se teased they will attempt to break a world record on the show tonight, before crowning the new winner.
After two years of cancellations due to Covid disruptions, the annual Rose of Tralee International festival is back with a bang, with 33 new Roses.
In the centre of it all the entertainment is longtime host and native Kerry man Daithi, helping the hopefuls tell their stories throughout the evening.
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And in his usual style, he has been rolling up the sleeves and getting involved with the popular ‘party piece’ element of the show, with night one seeing him plunged into an ice bath.
But the host teased that the fun doesn’t stop there, as they will attempt to break a record during tonight’s live show on RTE One.
Speaking before getting ready to head back on stage, he said:
“[There will be] a few surprises again tonight. We are going to try to break a world record of some sort, I wouldn’t be going to the history books with it, it is more of a bit of craic, rather than any serious attempts at breaking a record. But it is a bit a fun anyways.
Dubai Rose, Aileen Mc Alister, brought the dance party to the show, as she tried to break a world record live on stage.
The 28-year-old from Co. Antrim, partook in the world record of the longest Riverdance line in 2013, with 1,693 dancers.
And the primary school teacher roped Daithi, and the 1,200-strong audience in attendance at the live broadcast from the Munster Technological University’s Kerry Sports Academy, to try to replicate it with the audience.
“I’m involved in a few again but listen, there is nothing as severe as dunking myself in a bucket of ice," Daithi remarked.
It comes after the Today show host, 46, stripped down into his GAA shorts as he plunged into a barrel full of ice water to help demonstrate the Wim Hof technique - which the Kildare Rose, Ashleigh Byrne, explained on stage.
The breathing exercise, while submerged in extremely cold water, is supposed to bring “peace and clarity” to the mind as well as trigger “happy hormones”.
But Daithi admitted he had to let off a bit of steam when the cameras went to an ad break, saying: “It was just freezing. And it was all coming at you at the one time, and then I remembered I’m on television, don’t curse. But once I controlled my breathing it was nice. But when I got out then I just roared. I let out two or three big roars.”
The seasoned host also admitted he was nervous about having a wardrobe malfunction during the slot, due to the quick strip needed on stage.
“It was a great idea at the time when you were planning this two months ago,” he said.
“But then i had to put on special tux pants, so we had three minutes to get the pants off, and shorts on, I had two pairs of boxing shorts inside the shorts, just in case there was anything. But they always said a dead bird never fell out of a nest so I’d say I was fairly safe.
“But I got into it and it was absolutely freezing. So I had to take off the clothes and I suppose that was part of it. But fair play to the wardrobe department. I had elasticated lace shoes so it was all coming off fairly fast.
“And we rehearsed the taking off of the pants, and then there were two little clips at the back to pull forward and that’s how the pants came off, so again I was lucky it didn’t catch anything else or take anything else off.”
After an almost three year hiatus, the Galway based RTE star, who is married to former New Jersey Rose, Rita Talty, said this year feels like an even bigger show than ever.
He said: “Night one was a jam packed show, out of all of the Rose of Tralee’s I have done, I think that was the busiest when it came to party pieces. It was full on, and I was involved in a good few of them.”
And as he gets set to announce the winner tonight of the title of the 62nd Rose, he admitted he is already thinking of the celebrations and sleep he will have to help him unwind after.
“Oh I'm going for it. I can smell it[pints]. My last job is to deliver the new Rose of Tralee down to her parents and her family and friends and believe me, Jimmy Buckley will be in the fourth verse of the Rose of Tralee and I’ll be going for it. We will be still on air and I'll be going for it’.
“Ah we will have a few drinks tonight to wind down.
“And I’ll go to sleep for awhile after this one alright, then Rita and Ogie are back [from trip to US] on Friday morning, so I’m looking forward to that.”
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