Will Leahy celebrating milestone as he takes up voiceover duties at Rose of Tralee for 18th year
The 52-year-old RTE Gold presenter now ranks himself alongside Rose of Tralee legend Gay Byrne
Will Leahy is celebrating a milestone as he takes up his voiceover duties at the festival for the 18th year.
The 52-year-old RTE Gold presenter now ranks himself alongside Rose of Tralee legend Gay Byrne. Dad-of-two Will told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “It’s my 18th Rose of Tralee and Gay Byrne did 18, so I’ve managed to do as many as he did. He was Mr Rose of Tralee.
“People will insult it online but still watch it all night, it’s down to the fact it’s uniquely Irish, you can’t get the Rose of Tralee on Netflix.”
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Ryan Tubridy’s former girlfriend Aoibhinn Ni Shulleabhain was Will’s first ever Rose to be introduced on stage and Ray D’Arcy was his first host.
He joked: “There are Roses there this year that weren’t alive when I started the Rose of Tralee. That’s the funny part about it. We call it summer camp because, for the last 20 years, it’s been the same crew working on it.
“It’s a really hard show to do, every girl has a chance to rehearse. It looks easy but the work that’s required to get the show on the air is huge.”
Will said the appeal of the show is “hard to explain”, but it’s watched in 120 countries including Kuwait and the Antarctic. And he reckons the double act of Daithi and Kathryn has injected new energy into the live telly spectacle.
Will said: “When you work behind the scenes you really see having two presenters allows you to do so much more, we can cover more of the hall. Personally, I don’t know how Daithi did it all those years on his own.”
His highlights are many but the live proposal to the Texas Rose 10 years ago still resonates. He revealed: “We get thousands of tweets and I have to look at every single one to pick out the ones I think are usable for the TV.”
"The funny ones we can never show. Sometimes a swear word or a rude comment about Daithi ruins a tweet and I can’t read it out.”
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