With season 13 of Ireland's Fittest Family coming to a close this Sunday, we caught up with Anna Geary, Donncha O'Callaghan and Andrew Trimble to discuss this year's heated competition.
Hosted by TV and radio presenter Laura Fox, the latest season of Ireland's Fittest Family saw veteran coaches Davy Fitzgerald, Donncha O'Callaghan and Anna Geary joined by three brand new faces.
Champion swimmer Ellen Keane, All-Ireland champ Michael Darragh MacAuley, and Irish rugby legend Andrew Trimble joined the cast as coaches, making the bid for glory in a dramatic six-way battle.
"In 13 seasons, there's never been more than four [coaches]," Anna Geary says, reflecting on the change. "Straight away, you're thinking, who is it going to be!"
"In previous seasons, you started out with three, if not four, families. This year, we had two. Take me, for example, I lost a family in the very first round. Suddenly, your back is against the wall."
"It took some getting used to, but I'm delighted to say that the three OGs are in the final," she adds. "So, you know, we have to be doing something right!"
"I really enjoyed it," Donncha chimes in. "It just felt like a freshen up, something new and something different. The fact that we had new coaches, we went to new places, there was - maybe this was me just being a bit of an eejit - but having less families..."
"Just having eight people to remember as opposed to 16 was helpful for me," he laughs.
With plenty of slagging between O'Callaghan and Trimble happening throughout the Zoom call, it's clear to see that the former teammates had a solid friendship going into the show.
As for the other new additions, the rugby star says it was a breath of fresh air to get some new perspectives and personalities.
"Our sports are all different, but I think there's a kind of language that crosses over," he explains. "I thought it was a great freshen up and really enjoyable."
"If they change it up next summer and I don't make the cut, I'll try my best not to be offended," jokes Andrew Trimble. "It's not the first time I've been dropped in my life. It's just that all the other droppings in my life have happened at the hand of Declan Kidney."
Trimble, a former Ulster and Ireland rugby star, was hand-selected to play for Ireland by Kidney but was notably dropped by him from the 2013 Six Nations squad.
"If they decide to go in a different direction, maybe they can bring Declan in to drop me for next summer - it will be a nostalgic feeling!"
The quip has Donncha in a fit of laughter, as he adds, joking: "Declan Kidney is now an executive producer of Ireland's Fittest Family."
Looking at the families that made it to season 13, the coaches all say that they are constantly amazed by the athleticism and willpower on display by their families.
"I think there's an appreciation from all of us for the moms," notes Donncha. "They'll absolutely finish everything, black and blue, and the first thing they do is apologise to their teenage - most likely - son, who has been absolutely useless!"
"Someone will always do something quite incredible," he smiles. "When you get to see someone going beyond themselves, it is quite remarkable."
Coaching a group of people with so much history is a unique challenge for coaches, as family dynamics may clash with natural leadership when the pressure is on. Knowing how to adapt, working with both the individuals and the team, is an impressive skill set.
"I wasn't really sure what to expect from myself," admits Trimble. "How I would behave, how vocal I would be, how encouraging or, I suppose, how hard I would be."
Although he found a particular coaching style, as the show went on and he got to know the family members better, he said he built trust with each person so that he was able to change tactics when needed.
"Trimbie copped that within a few weeks," explains Donncha. "Whereas, it's taken the rest of us a few years to cop it. You kind of have to build up an element of trust with them. If you don't, you're goosed."
Anna agrees, adding: "It's almost about getting to know the individual family members as well."
"All coaches will have, maybe, a default coaching style, whereas the trick is to know when there's one family member out of the four that, on Hang Tough, doesn't need you to say anything to them. They need to go into their own head and sing a Taylor Swift song or do a decade of the Rosary, or whatever it is they do."
"The trick is to actually be able to adapt because if you have that default style when you're in the thick of it, when the pressure comes on and the tension is high, the two families are neck and neck, and you know one family member doesn't want to be roared at as they go up the ramp, you have to have the resolve to not roar at them as they go up the ramp!"
Watch the grand finale of Ireland's Fittest Family on Sunday at 6:30pm on RTÉ One.
