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OVER 890,00 VIEWERS tuned in to watch Luxembourg representative Nicola McEvoy as she was crowned this year’s Rose of Tralee.
The latest figures from RTÉ show that last night’s broadcast had an average of 688,500 viewers, and that the audience level peaked for the moment when presenter Daithí Ó Sé named the Luxembourg Rose as the winner.
Last night’s programme was the second of two live broadcasts from the Rose of Tralee festival in Co Kerry.
The event was streamed live and was made available on demand on the RTÉ Player. A quarter of the 80,000 streams of the event downloaded online were from the live online broadcast on both nights. Almost half of the streams were ordered from outside Ireland.
RTÉ executive producer for entertainment Justin Healy commended Dáithí Ó Sé for making the event “much easier for the Roses” with his “energetic and fun personality”.
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Another reason this wonderful festival should never be knocked. And it shows just how much the majority of comments on here are not a reflection on the real Ireland. I’m sick of these keyboard warriors and I’m leaving this website forever. Goodbye.
Bye Conor, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.
The proof is in the pudding , Conor !
Despite all the negativity by a minority
( most of whom have probably never visited this great event ).
It still retains fantastic popularity, as being the most watched home produced Programme – well done to all the positive people – as for the rest – visit us next year – if there is enough room for you all !
What is the first reason?
How is it a “wonderful” festival?
It’s a celebration of mediocrity and (largely) outdated gender roles. No wonder it’s so popular among the “Majority”.
Au revoir Conor. We will miss and cherish every comment and fond memory you gave us on this site and there are many….eh… May you always be remembered as the commenter who loved the Lovely Girls competition! :-)
Eddie just to correct u on a couple of points. The viewing figures for the 2 nights are big but it’s not the highest viewed Irish programme. All Ireland finals receive more viewers. Secondly, the issue is not whether people have visited the festival but how they find the viewing experience. Thankfully, most see it for what it is – a shameless exercise in Darby O Gill style paddywhackery and the ultimate celebration of homogeneity ….
@Leigh, how do you know this isn’t a wonderful festival?? Have you been to it??
Its not just about the Roses, its a festival for the whole of Tralee, that goes on from Friday to Tuesday every year, for the past 53 years! its a great festival, with loads to do, music, funfair, skyfest. So what’s so bad about that? Whats so bad about a town having its own festival??
If you have been to it and didn’t enjoy it, then that’s fine, but please don’t knock something you know nothing about, apart from a small part of it which is shown on tv for only TWO nights in the year. So what if people don’t like the show, don’t watch it, no big deal, but don’t come on hear asking what’s so wonderful about it if you haven’t experienced it!
It’s not been the same around here since Conor left, has it?
I wonder what he’s up to now.
@Gagsy
Not sure, but monkey and spanking spings to mind!
Fionna Barrett, your comment does not address any of my concerns whatsoever. How many jigs and reels and sessions there are around Tralee at the time of the competition is irrelevant. Whether I watch it or not is irrelevant. If it reinforces gender roles and certain expectations of women, especially ones that aren’t held on men, that’s damaging in a culture that’s quite decidedly anti-woman in a number of ways.
She was nice! Cool prize and her parents looked really happy for her! Congratulations!
I think we have a lovely boy competition already, it’s known as GAA.
Do we really need a lovely girls competition in this day and age? Can we at least have an equivalent lovely boys competition instead of pretending like nothing anywhere no matter what is sexist or encourages archaic gendered attitudes?
why don’t you make a stand and change your name to Sean or something male to get the ball rolling on this equality stance
Making fun of the idea doesn’t change the fact that it’s true. We get lovely girls up on stage to do tricks for us, but not men, since we think more of men in this country. And we also act like obnoxious little shits whenever something needs to be taken seriously.
You started with “the making fun” part when you called it “a lovely girls competition” Its called the Rose Of Tralee, Father Ted held the lovely girls competition, You should probably watch another episode of Father Ted about “dreams and reality” The diagram is pretty easy to follow after a while.
Here ya go http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81quuALF5hs
Leigh, the whole point of the “pageant” element of the Rose festival is to demonstrate and celebrate strong, confident, educated and successful women who are not relying solely on their looks to get ahead in life. In fact, it does the exact opposite of what you accuse it of doing.
the ‘strong, confident, educated and successful women’ i know wouldn’t be seen dead even watching this ‘pageant’ let alone consider entering it
If it’s all about celebrating strong, confident, educated and successful women, why do we still have to get them to dress up a certain way, and have a generally traditional affair? Why are certain traditional archetypes still very much encouraged?
Again, I can raise some good points that will be ignored. Would an open lesbian, wearing a suit, be likely to win the pageant?
The pageant has it’s roots in a time when feminism was practically unheard of in Ireland and still largely sticks to the same format – I don’t buy that it’s a “celebration of strong women”. Celebrate femininity by all means – if you celebrate other things too, in equal amounts.
Neil – sorry to have to split hairs with you – but I was referring to a home produced Programme – not a home produced Sporting Event Programme .
The viewing figures which RTE have released prove wholeheartedly that the general public absolutely love this two night Programme and that’s a FACT !!
Eddie the programme gets high viewing figures – I don’t dispute that. It would be interesting though to see the ratio of people over 40 that watch it as against under 40s. I would be pretty certain that only a very small percentage of under 40s watch it which is reassuring.
C’mon the letzeburg!
How are these viewing figures established ? Serious question ! Would appreciate an answer.
http://www.tamireland.ie/faq.html click the 3rd link on the FAQ’S – By reading it I guess the figures that they throw out are only very estimated figures.
Neil
I’m over 50 and I wouldn’t watch that outdated sexist rubbish!!!! That’s just my opinion, everyone is entitled to their own. It’s what I would call twee.
Saw her interviewed in bed this morning….a double bed….wink,wink…
I don’t think the numbers prove that it’s well-loved; I think quite a large number of people watch it because it’s hilarious. The woeful presenting! The dolphin impression! The magic trick that didn’t work!
Comedy gold.
@Leigh Walsh Very well put. The roots of these ‘pageants’ are suspect and we need to look ourselves in the eye when we decide to have ‘a bit of fun’. I grew up in the 70s and am still a Carry On fan but then again I’m no longer impressionable. The apparent low percentage of under 40s watching is encouraging but, like a lot of things here, this improved attitude needs to be encouraged all the time. One of the biggest problems facing the ‘post-feminist’ feminist is the assumption by a growing number of women that it’s ‘job done’. It’s just not bloody good enough to say “Ah sure I was only watching it ironically. ” The Lovely Girls segment from Father Ted is sharper than it appears. . .but perspective’s a funny thing too. Cheers.
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