Empires rise and fall, trends come and go – and still The Rose of Tralee (RTÉ One, Monday, 8pm) rumbles on. This summer marks the 63rd year of the contest famously parodied by Father Ted as the Lovely Girls Competition, and there’s no indication that it’s running out of steam. If anything, The Rose of Tralee springs into 2024 in renewed fettle, with Kathryn Thomas returning for the second year as Dáithí Ó Sé’s cohost.
It’s straight into the action. First up is the Dubai Rose, Ciara O’Sullivan, a teacher and GAA player, who shares a photograph of herself in football kit, jumping in the desert, and plays a tune on the harp. Then it’s the Waterford Rose, Abby Walsh, a newly qualified community pharmacist, who talks about the challenges and joy of studying through Irish, from primary school all the way to third level. She is followed by the North Carolina Rose, Kathryn Wright, who reveals that her idol is Dolly Parton and then asks Kathryn Thomas to participate in a card trick. (Thomas wonders how Ó Sé got off so lightly and gets to mooch in the wings.)
Card tricks, harp-playing, the bagpipes – the party piece of the San Francisco Rose, Maggie Baglin – are part of a more recent tradition of participants showing off a skill. The message is that the Rose of Tralee is no mere pageant and that critiquing it as past its sell-by date is unfair on contestants who have travelled around the world to be in Tralee and honour their Irish heritage.
There is certainly nothing else like it on TV, although in its first hour the 2024 event falls short of scintillating. There’s the occasional toe-curling moment, such as when Thomas and Ó Sé attempt to lead a singalong of The Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles), as parped out on the bagpipes by the San Fransisco Rose.
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Still, cringe o’clock strikes only once or twice. Elsewhere, the crowd applauds, Ó Sé winks at the camera, and on social media hundreds of viewers weigh in (mostly with Father Ted references – or jokes about all the Father Ted references). It’s a reminder that, quaint or embarrassing, old fashioned or progressive, the Rose of Tralee isn’t going anywhere.
