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Home Page > Blogs > News blogs > Periscope > Why the Rose of Tralee remains Ireland’s most popular TV program by far -- Irish Diaspora comes alive as women from all over the world seek the crown

Periscope by Niall O'Dowd

Why the Rose of Tralee remains Ireland’s most popular TV program by far -- Irish Diaspora comes alive as women from all over the world seek the crown

Posted on Wednesday, August 22, 2012 at 08:26 AM

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Daithi O Se photographed with this year's Rose of Tralee
Nicola McEvoy, Luxembourg

Ireland’s most popular program year after year drew to a conclusion last night.

No, it wasn’t the conclusion of a soap opera or a final debate for political office or a major football game.
It was the selection of the 2012 Rose of Tralee, the annual contest to find that special young woman from somewhere in the world, who best embodied the Irish spirit.

The winner, Rose McEvoy, is based in Luxembourg and when is the last time that country ever had a winner in a major competition of any kind?

One in three Irish people will have watched all or some part of the selection process for an event that runs live for two nights on national television and continues to amaze as to why so many watch.

It is not a beauty contest, there are no bikinis or fake body tans to show off.

None of the contestants are in the least famous, they are ordinary girls from major Irish cities and from all over the world.

This is the Irish diaspora come alive, with talented young women on stage and proud parents and Irish relatives all watching as well as a nation.

They call the Melbourne Cup the horse race that stops a nation, well the Rose of Tralee does the same for Ireland as millions gather to see the contestants on TV.

They are not particularly talented performers. Case in point, the Ottawa Rose this year wanted to milk a cow to show what she was best at.

They brought the cow into the studio but she proved too tough to handle so the segment was abandoned at the last minute -- not before the cow had deposited some droppings on the stage.

Where else would it happen?

I was watching some of it via internet (Thank you RTE) yesterday and it was live television at its best.
The Tyrone Rose decided she wanted to show off her Irish dancing, but in a floor-sweeping long dress that had everyone worried she’d trip over.

The South Australia Rose decided to play a card trick on presenter Daithi O Se (Our regular columnist) but got the card wrong. It was the six of diamonds, not the nine, so she accused O Se of thinking upside down.

Next up, the London Rose played a mean tin whistle which had the audience clapping and stomping but she was no James Galway.

The New York Rose Annemarie Lynch blasted out a version of Springsteen’s ‘Dancing in the Dark’ that rocked the dome in Tralee where the contest was being held.

The contest had that wonderful and magic blend of endearing amateurism and vulnerability that appeals to the masses.

It is the dream of generations of Irish mothers and fathers at home and abroad that some day their daughter will represent their city in the Rose of Tralee.

As the mother of the Cork Rose remarked last night, “We must have done something right,” as she viewed her vivacious daughter on stage.

What could be better than that for a parent?

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timbobdennehy | Sep 02, 2012, 04:04 PM EDT

the only time their is any life in tralee.

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IrelandNorth | Aug 24, 2012, 07:55 AM EDT

My own favourites, (from an impossible to choose from bunch of lovely lassies), were the Shankill and Waterside Roses, from two prominent loyalists areas of Ulster/Northern Ireland. Good on yiz, goils!

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IrelandNorth | Aug 24, 2012, 07:54 AM EDT

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angrypaddy | Aug 24, 2012, 01:40 AM EDT

N.O D. would sensationalize any story to make headlines for his rag mag Did you ever notice everything is an outrage in Ireland people are outraged about the Weathe,Euro,R.T.E.,Louis,Aer Lingus,etc,etc everybody is outraged with everything in Ireland

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Towngate | Aug 23, 2012, 08:34 AM EDT

...still trying to 'big up' the Irish heifers in their annual "Cake-Face" competition.

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Aonraoi | Aug 22, 2012, 08:59 PM EDT

Might be embellishing it a wee bit Niall , a simple straw poll around most young Irish natives would tell you this old goose is cooked , still attracting big viewer numbers but we're a nation of knockers just gawping to see "the Hack Of that one , or the State of that dress ", and secretly our women folk love it cos it makes them feel good knowing they could have been a rose , just never entered .........

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billie061 | Aug 22, 2012, 05:46 PM EDT

1 in 3 I don't think so, Daithi a regular columinist with I.C. since when ????????????? think he has more taste. It is most certanly not one of our more popular programmes would'nt be enough sick bags in the country, no more than Miss world would be popular.

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DrTrelawney | Aug 22, 2012, 05:16 PM EDT

This outmoded cattle mart -- parodied brilliantly by Father Ted as the Lovely Girls competition -- is, contrary to the impression given here, tumbling violently in the ratings. The 2012 debacle attracted the lowest ratings in eight years. Given that nearly twice as many people watched Katie Taylor's gold medal fight -- and that on a Thursday afternoon -- it really is a stretch to call this awful business Ireland's most popular TV programme.

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