Celebrity Globetrotters is the hilarious and enthralling new show bringing Senator David Norris, writer Victoria Mary Clarke, Crystal Swing’s Derek Burke, singer Dana, comedienne Alison Spittle and Olympian David Gillick together to explore vibrant Morocco.
In each episode one celebrity takes the lead, bringing their fellow travellers on their chosen itinerary. So will they all get on or will sparks fly?
We caught up with Derek Burke of the band Crystal Swing to hear all about how the group got on, who surprised him, what parts of Moroccan culture stuck in his throat and what he learned from traveling in such a diverse country, with an even more diverse group.
Were you nervous at all before heading off to Morocco?
No, to be honest, I wasn’t. We obviously all came from very very different walks of life as in, you couldn’t be more further away than David Norris and I would have said, god, we’ve nothing in common but we got on so well. By the end of the whole trip, it was like a little family. Everyone one of us gelled together. I wasn’t nervous about going with any of the group at all. I guessed that toward the end we all would get on extremely well, and exactly as I predicted happened.
Did you have a favourite travel partner?
At the start when I arrived over to Morocco, myself and David Gillick would have kind of stuck together. We were probably the nearest in age and we probably had the most to talk about. After four or five nights together with everybody, we all just started to gel. Even we have our own WhatsApp group now, we all keep in touch and we’re all sending each other pictures. Now, David Norris is the only one who doesn’t because he doesn’t have a WhatsApp. We know each other so well and when I see them, it was like we hadn’t left Morocco.
Each of you had to lead the group on a tour during the trip, how did you find that and how did you make it your own?
It was a little bit daunting at the start. Thank God I wasn’t first up, David Norris was first up to lead the group and you’ve a hard man to follow with David as he is so knowledgeable about everything. There’s nothing he doesn’t know.
My tour is on the third episode and it was fun. My one is filled with a lot of different things. I suppose everyone else’s were set in the city, whereas my one was going out into the countryside of Morocco and doing things that the normal person going on a trip wouldn’t do.
Firstly, we bought a goat in this small little village at the bottom of the Atlas Mountains. We took it way up the mountain, to a Berber village, the native people of Morocco. They’re not into material things at all, so you wouldn’t bring a box of chocolates. They have no interest in material things. Everything they use is practical, so that’s the reason we brought the goat up there. They welcomed us in and gave us tea and food and we got to see how they do their different crafts. We got to see a woman weaving carpets by hand, a carpet that would take 100 days to make they’d sell for €80-€90.
Was there anyone in the group that you were surprised by?
I think Alison really surprised me. You have a perception, I suppose, of comedians, that they are naturally funny. Alison was so intelligent, as well. For such a young person she had a really broad knowledge of different aspects of life and different things. Even if we were moving onto a different place, she would read up on where we were going, she’d have all the different facts and figures.
Was there anything you learned that really stuck with you?
It would be in the sense that the Moroccan people, they’re so different to us. Their average wage in a month is somewhere between €300-€500 and they all are involved in their own souks and shops and if they needed €100 a day to break even, and if I was the first person in and they were only open ten minutes, well they’d close up the shop if I bought say, €120 worth of stuff. They’d made enough, so they’d go home to their families and they’d just relax with their families.
I just thought that was really, really nice and I was talking to one of the tour guides and he was telling me that mental health issues would be very, very low there compared to what we have here in Ireland. It’s not that they don’t have ambitions, but they work to make enough and once they have enough, they’re happy to go home to their families and spend quality time with them.
You had to eat a sheep's brain, what was that like?I’d be actually very very adventurous about food and I would try anything and I’ve eaten a lot of [meats], like snail and that but sheep’s brain was probably the worst. It doesn’t taste like a meat, it’s a really slimy texture. It wouldn't be my thing at all, but I’d be up for trying anything so I was delighted to be able to try it. But would I be going back for second helpings? Probably not.
How was the food in Morocco in general?
The food in Morocco was really nice. Everything was tagine and couscous and I suppose after four or five nights after having the same thing - I wouldn’t have eaten couscous so it was the tagine I was eating - you kind of have enough of having the same thing.
I’m the sort I like to get my food on a plate. I don’t like this when they bring the food down to the table and put it in the middle and everybody takes their portion. I hate that because you see ten potatoes and there’s nine at the table, you’re just inclined to go for the one each. I prefer when I get my food on a plate and that’s for me, and the tagine was a lot like that. I couldn’t say that the food was not nice, the food was gorgeous and their meat and the quality is second to none.
What would be your favourite memory or story from the trip?
It would probably have to be going up to the Atlas Mountains and seeing those Berber people. Just to see the way they live and how happy they are with little. It really took me back to another stage of life because you have to remember some of these people, they only have electricity ten years, most of them don’t have cookers or anything to cook their meals so they bring it to this local kind of bakery. They don’t have any baths or showers. Just to see the simplicity of life, that image of that village will stay in my mind forever.
On tonight's episode...
With the gang still in bustling Marrakesh, t’s Victoria Mary Clarke’s turn to take the lead and the day starts as they take to the skies in a hot air balloon at dawn to enjoy spectacular views of the Atlas Mountains. Then, a shopping trip to the souk where they must haggle for traditional outfits to wear for their sumptuous dinner later that night.
Never one to miss an opportunity to get the party started, Derek takes to the stage with the musicians to play the bongos.
Watch Celebrity Globetrotters on RTÉ One every Thursday at 8:30pm.
