It's kind of ironic that the two semi-finals of this year’s Eurovision are bookmarking the arrival of Uncharted with Ray Goggins on RTÉ One.
Tuesday and Thursday’s musical showpieces are all about fun, self-expression, making your mark, the visually spectacular and a race to to do it all again on Saturday night in front of a gazillion viewers worldwide.
Wednesday night’s new show with Ultimate Hell Week Chief Ray is more solitary experience, going way outside your comfort and - let’s face it - just staying alive.
It couldn’t be less glamorous in comparison with the kaleidoscopic, cartoon world of Eurovision.
Oddly enough, this week's opening episode of Uncharted with Ray Goggins features two well-known faces with 'kind of’ Eurovision links. For one, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar is a self-confessed fan of the contest, while Lyra is herself a musician of some repute.
And despite what some of us may think, the Eurovision remains a musical event.
Maybe one day Lyra will represent Ireland at the Eurovision. Unlikely, maybe, but then climbing up a deadly mountain with Leo Varadkar would’ve been far more unlikely - until it actually happened.
The disparate duo of Leo and Lyra are not your typical outdoorsy folk but for five days they are going native in the wild untamed mountains of Drakensberg, South Africa, in the company of Ray Goggins.
They will sleep in caves, scale gigantic peaks and climb sheer rock faces as they make their way to the top of the highest waterfall on the planet, Tugela Falls.
Ray served as a special forces operator in the Army Ranger wing of the Irish forces for 17 years, so his challenge here is getting his two sidekicks through it all without loss of life or limb. A few frayed nerves and ego-undressing are guaranteed, of course.
"They're obviously from completely different walks of life - but very similar," says Ray, when asked about his unlikely companions on this trek. "Both people are a very big presence in the public eye, and maybe a certain persona that you don’t really see.
"So for this - for example, with Leo - he’s a politician, he has to protect a certain image, certain kinds of qualities, and always seems to know what he’s doing. He has a plan and this, that and the other.
"So we put him in an environment where that wasn’t the case. He didn’t know what was coming up. He wasn’t briefed. He wasn’t prepared or up to speed. He just arrived at the scene.
"Okay, you have to do this now - and he becomes more reactive. That was a challenge for him because he's a very detailed person. His attention to detail is incredible. He’s smart, intelligent with greater brain power than me."
It’s chalk and cheese then, when comparing Ray and Leo. But add to this curiously incongruous mix is one of Ireland’s top singers. Last year she released her eponymous debut album. Highly dubious preparation for mountain-climbing, I’d reckon.
Ray says. "For Lyra, being in the music business, I’m sure it can be chaotic and mad. But her presence on social media, being a symbol of fashion, those kind of things - she didn’t have to worry about that so much when she was on the side of a mountain in Africa.
"She can just relax a little bit," he insists, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the heights she was aiming for are on the record sales charts, not 3,000m up a cliff edge. "She doesn’t have to look perfect and that kind of stuff."
Let’s face it: you’re not going to be that concerned about your Instagram page where you’re trying not to fall off the side of a mountain.
"You’d be surprised," says Ray. "It takes a while to wash that out of them. But they were committed and just got on with it. They were great to work with and I enjoyed both of them personally and professionally.
"They were different people, but it just shows. When you put people in these environments - no matter who they are or what background - similar values kick in, similar ideas kick in.
"And that's because we’re all wired very similarly. We’re all motivated by the same sort of thing: that whole survival thing. It’s all very simple, and that was the whole idea of it. Simplify things."
Yeah. Like not dying.
"Now it was extreme," Ray admits. And if he thought it was extreme, we can only guess the inner turmoil that Leo and Lyra had to deal with. Ray is nothing if not candid.
"They’d to face a lot of hard sh*t and had to work hard," he recalls. "It’s not for everybody, to be fair. Look - it wasn’t Hell Week, it was like Hell Week lite. But it brought its challenges. It was physically tough.
"In South Africa, on the Drakensberg, the mountain range where we were, it was pretty damp. It was wet for the first couple of days and we were just pissed-on. And that brings its own set of problems."
Not being able to dry out after a soaking is crucial to survival out in the wild. Let's face it (part 52): it's not exactly a stroll in the eh . . .
"You know, if you go for a walk with your kids in the park for an hour, and it’s wet, then you can go home and sit by the fire or have a shower," says Ray, brnging up the very thing. "We’re out in it all day.
"If you’re lucky, you’ll get into a cave at the end of the day, you might get a fire lit, you might get your clothes dry. You’ll try and get food done.
"Those small little additions to your day could be very complicated. Keeping your administration, as we call it - keeping yourself warm, looked after, fed - can be a challenge in itself."
This is why, folks, it’s much more fun - and safer - to watch TV than be on it.
Uncharted with Ray Goggins is on at 9.35pm on Wednesdays on RTÉ One and streaming on RTÉ Player
