The Money List host Baz Ashmawy has told RTÉ Entertainment that the best part of the job is the fun he has with the contestants.
The quiz show returns for its third series on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Saturday at 8:30pm as strangers team up for the chance to win big.
Teeing up the fun ahead as the contestants' general knowledge is put to the test, the host said: "It's more mad Irish people stuck in soundproof booths together!"
"A show like that, it's just all about the casting, it's all about the people, and the people are just so great," he continued.
"They're great fun, and they're from all over the country. I have so much fun with them; it's the reason I was happy to go back and do the show. I just like the interaction with them.
"Irish people love nothing more than to have a gamble, so they make great contestants in a game show. There's a great atmosphere in the studio making it."
As to how well the presenter himself would fare if he had to rattle off lists at top speed, Ashmawy replied: "I'm the most intelligent guy ever - if you give me an earpiece! I know everything!
"No, I have to say there's a lot of times where I don't know what they're talking about! But I'm lucky - I have someone helping me through it!
"Then there's other times there might be a list... I'm a bit of a movie nerd, so I'd be strong on movies and TV and pop culture and stuff like that.
"That's the appeal of watching a show like The Money List: you can be the smartest person in the room on one list and then you get to another list and it's just not your bag and you're in big trouble."
Away from The Money List studio, Ashmawy will be wearing a different hat next month - a hard one - when DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland returns to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player for a new series on Sunday 5 October.
"We went to Mooncoin, we went to Tallaght, and we went to Clarecastle this year," he said of the new season.
"It's just an amazing show. I think making it, I always feel I get a lot more out of it than I ever have to really put into it.
"I think the way things are in the world now, you could lose faith in humanity - and then you go somewhere and you spend 10 days or nine days on a building site with a thousand people and you're just blown away by it. They're just the best people.
"These families as well, they're so resilient, they're so great. A lot of kids this year were around. Just amazing kids with lots of challenges.
"All those people who come on board and help make it happen, it's just a perfect merging of using TV in the best way possible. I'm very lucky; it's a privilege to get to talk to these families and these kids. I do love it, but sometimes I wish I was a bit 'tougher' - I'm a bit soft. You see me going watery-eyed a little bit too much sometimes, but that's just the way I am."
One area where Ashmawy would love to show his 'tougher' side is on a celebrity special of The Money List.
"I'd drag them all in!" he laughed.
"Definitely Cillian Murphy, Roy Keane, Garron Noone, Deirdre O'Kane, Jennifer Zamparelli... I'd have all of them. I'd go in and rinse everybody out of it!"
The new series of The Money List begins on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Saturday at 8:30pm. The new series of DIY SOS: The Big Build Ireland begins on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player on Sunday 5 October.
