Dáithí Ó Sé is back with the Rose of Tralee but this time he's not alone. Donal O’Donoghue talks to him about co-hosting the event for the first time, the lure of the Late Late Show and managing family time.
"I asked ‘did I do something wrong?’" says Dáithi Ó Sé, recalling that time last spring when he heard that the Rose of Tralee TV show would have two hosts rather than the usual one for the first time in its history.
Now in his twelfth year as emcee of the popular broadcast – variously described as a celebration of Irish culture or a Lovely Girls competition depending on your allegiance – the pragmatic Kerryman was unlikely to have been shaken or stirred by the news. After all, the show’s ratings have always been impressive. But why does he think it’s being changed now?
"The boss wanted to move it on another step. He said that there was nothing that I did wrong and when Kathryn Thomas was announced as co-host, I was confident it would work. They also believe that the change will further add to the viewing figures. In any case, I’ve bought into it so I’m hoping it will too."
Ó Sé is on the phone from his native Kerry (for many years his home has been in south Galway where he lives with his wife, Rita, and their nine-year-old son, Mícheál Óg).
As ever at this time of year, he’s flat out with ROT duties, the fine details of the new format still being rejigged as we speak. "It will be one Rose and one presenter on the stage at the time" is all he can say for certain, but the bare bones remain the same: thirty or so young women vying for the crown by singing a song or milking a ‘cow’ or reciting poetry or dancing a jig.
"It’s all about the Roses," he says, unsurprisingly a champion of the show. "They bring their stories and their party pieces. Like last year the Kildare Rose, Ashleigh Byrne, said that she liked getting into an ice water bath and the chat and the craic took off from there. I don’t rehearse that much with the Roses, so on the night there’s always that element of surprise."
Dealing with the unexpected is stitched into the career of the man from West Kerry who in his early years (he and academia never saw eye to eye) worked as a ferryman, fisherman, bouncer, circus ringmaster and teacher before getting a part-time gig at the age of 23 as a weatherman/continuity announcer with TnaG.
Ever since, TV has been his lot. Was the recently vacated Late Late Show seat ever a consideration? "If you were offered, you’d be an idiot not to take it because it’s the biggest gig in town," he says. "But I don’t even consider something until someone asks if I’m interested in doing it. I’m happy with my lot as opposed to looking into someone else’s garden. But if somebody asked, I would have gone for it. They didn’t. As it happened, the amount of people who took themselves out of the running in a race they weren’t even in, was all a bit of a joke."
The Today Show also returns later this autumn, for its 12th season. In the wake of the recent controversies at RTÉ did Ó Sé (who hosts with Maura Derrane and Sinéad Kennedy) worry about the future of the Cork-based production?
"Not one bit. The Today Show is the essence of public service broadcasting. We are there five days a week, 160 shows a year, talking to people in all the communities across Ireland. There were talks about moving into a new building because the old studio is essentially a shed, but the model is so cost-effective that I believe many other TV shows could follow its example."
Did he get any negative feedback following the recent RTÉ pay controversies? "No, not all. I was at the Willie Clancy Weekend in Co Clare where I heard two fellows joking about barter accounts in a bar but apart from that, nothing. I thought that there might be a backlash but there wasn’t."
Just like the Rose of Tralee, it will be his 12th season with the Today Show, a "place of fun where you can escape from the serious side of life". As the sole breadwinner, Ó Sé, who is self-employed, can sometimes struggle with balancing work and family time.
"It gets harder because you must keep going," he says. "We have eight-month contracts with The Today Show, so there’s no guarantees and you don’t know if you’ll be back in the saddle after the show ends each summer. As you get older, you’re wondering ‘how long more can this last?’
"You know you’re good enough because you’ve been there long enough, but it also gets harder because you want to spend more time at home with your young son. You don’t want to work weekends and you don’t want to be tired all the time. But that’s life for so many people. Life is hard, full stop, and you’ve just got to put your head down, plough on through and just do it."
