[AJB39]

They had a really good quiz on RTE a while back with Jennifer Zamparelli- Hone Advantage- nice bit of family-friendly fun. And they’ve still got DWTS (also with Jennifer), though rumour has it that the current run may be the last- I hope not- I feel it’s finally found its feet after seeming like “budget Strictly”- yes, the DWTS and Strictly formats are the same but each version of the show has its own unique flavour- I feel Ireland struggled until recently- the COVID enforced break benefitted it. Nice to see so many young dancers break through too- on the UK one, any partnered newbies in recent years seem to be around the age 30 mark, but DWTS’s newbie pros are around 10 years younger than that. Arthur is also far less annoying as a judge than Julian was- Julian was like a knock-off Bruno; whereas Arthur brings his own personality to the table. You could argue Brian is the knock-off Craig, but I don’t think so- outside of being “the harsh judge”, their personalities are very different, but Julian was far too similar to Bruno- I much preferred the weeks he wasn’t arsed to turn up and Darren Bennett stood in. Lorraine Barry the stalwart of the show without a doubt though.

Then there was a singing talent show with Nicky Byrne hosting, and Nadine Coyle, Samantha Mumba, and wait for it… Joey Fatone (!) as the judges. Nadine and Samantha make sense but were N Sync that big in Ireland? He was a very random choice.

There was also a show similar to what ended up being Walk the Line here with Boy George and Jedward- so they’re trying their best to invest in more light entertainment stuff (compared to their counterparts at Virgin, who haven’t really made an effort since Ireland’s Got Talent got axed- it was axed a tad prematurely but Virgin show BGT and AGT too, perhaps IGT was Got Talent overload in the schedules?).

That Boy George-Jedward show was in fact on Virgin Media. It also included Aston Merrygold of JLS as a judge. It was called “The Big Deal”, aired in the Autumn of 2021 and was very similar to Walk the Line. Like Walk the Line it only got one series. I don’t think Virgin Media have launched any light entertainment show since. They rely almost exclusively on their daily studio based shows to make up their Irish produced content quota. RTE are so much better compared to Virgin Media.