Today FM’s Ray Foley has built up quite a following on radio and now he’s about to be unleashed on TV as he hosts of the Irish version of speed-dating show Take Me Out. The RTÉ Guide’s Alan Corr meets the Mayo DJ turned cupid.
"I’m very hoarse today", says Ray Foley, standing in the kitchen area of Today FM. For the past two weeks, he’s been trying to be heard above the cacophony of 30 very excited young women. This was Foley’s task at the recording of Take Me Out, TV3’s new speed-dating show.
You might know Ray Foley as the hyperactive beanpole who presents the extended lunchtime slot on Today FM. He has some very loyal listeners: that morning, he received no less than 50 spoons after he lamented the lack of them in the Today FM kitchen, but when he takes on his new role as Cupid on Take Me Out, we won’t just get to see the man behind the mike, but we’ll also see a whole new side to him too.
Filmed in The Helix in Dublin, Take Me Out is a dating show with a difference. One bloke faces 30 single women with three chances to impress them and find a date. There’s a canny pun in the title – ‘take me out’ either means a night on the town or dismissal with a push of the button. Three strikes and you’re out.
Call it Blind Date with machine guns, it’s merciless stuff and in an era when text messaging and other technology has changed the peachy complexion of romance, Take Me Out is very 21st century. "It is merciless but I don’t want to say it’s cynical", says Ray. "Everyone goes away having had a good time, even the people who aren’t picked. It is cruel; a boy could be talking about his personal life and there’s lights going off but no one will judge you. Nobody is ever made a show of. Ireland’s too small for that."
Aside from a few Irishisms, there isn’t a huge difference between the Irish Take Me Out and its British equivalent. "Dating is about sex", says Ray. "The first date should be about personality but every single boy that comes out, the first thing they say is I’m nervous and the second thing they say is I’m looking for a woman who’s up for a laugh. That’s what dating is about."
Throwing one poor bloke to those 30 lionesses is one thing but doing the whole enterprise in reverse would be slammed as sexist, if not just plain unworkable. They did try it in Australia but the thing is, if you ask 30 guys if they want to go on a date, they’ll all say yes. You can’t base a TV show on that, now can you?
In person, Ray is not quite what you might expect. Much quieter than his radio persona, he is a reserved, almost thoughtful 30-year old. He hails from Ballina, Co Mayo and came to Dublin in 1998. He landed the plum job at Today FM in 2004 after a gradual climb through various Dublin stations while he was studying journalism at DIT.
He married fellow journalist Kate Carolan three years ago (they met at DIT); she works in the RTÉ newsroom. That must make for an interesting domestic dynamic – ‘zany’ radio DJ and dating show presenter with serious hard news reporter and all that. “Well I’m a little more serious than I am on radio”, Ray says. "I love being on the radio and I loved doing the TV show. I did one day of Take Me Out and I just thought, ‘Oh my god, this is great!’ Kate is about as serious as I am but she’d have as much craic as I would. Your job is just your job and who you actually are is different. I’m sure Bryan Dobson watches The Simpsons."
He says he’s more comfortable around women than men but how does he think he’d fare looking for a date in front of 30 very choosy women? "I’d be terrified. I probably wouldn’t end up going on a date", he says. "Girls are very, very tough. Looks do count. I’d have to win them over with my personality but I’m not too sure about that."
Somehow we reckon this bloke would survive those three strikes.
Alan Corr
