The reality show Cabin Fever was relaunched last night on RTÉ television with a new ship, crew and two new contestants to join the six members of the original team.
The programme was broadcast at 9.30 p.m. from Sligo port where the new ship was given a passenger licence only two hours before.
The licence was given after safety checks by the Marine Safety Directorate, part of the Department of the Marine.
The series was suspended after the original ship hit rocks and sank off Tory Island on Friday, June 13th, after only three episodes. Negotiations between Coco Productions, makers of the programme, the contestants and RTÉ have been continuing ever since in an effort to relaunch the series.
The new series last night set sail for a six-week trip around Ireland with six of the original contestants and the two new members competing for the €100,000 prize. One contestant is voted out by the public and must walk the plank each week.
Mr Stuart Switzer, producer and MD of Coco Productions, said last night that the ship will set sail today and arrive in Galway next Monday. Along the way they intend to stop in Enniscrone and Belmullet where the contestants take part in on-land challenges.
The six original contestants remaining in the programme are Marie Walsh, Lee Gooch, Cat Sheridan, Elaine Power, Fiona McGonnell and Andrew Fowler.
The three who left are Neville Fitzpatrick, John Carroll and Dean Ward. The two new contestants are David Yaffe from Dublin and Noel Gogan originally from Ennis, Co Clare.
The new ship is the Johanna Lucretia, a 96-foot ship sourced by Coco Television, and is slightly larger than the original ship.
The captain, Ted Hayes, will have ultimate responsibility for the sailing of the vessel. Other crew will be the first mate, Mark O'Reilly, a second mate, Dave Winstone, and the bosun, Kevin O'Leary.
The Johanna Lucretia was built in 1945 as a naval vessel in Belgium but was converted for recreational use in 1954 and operated in the Netherlands for 35 years. In 1989 she was bought by British owners and fully refitted in 1991-92 for cruising.
She is owned by Cutlass Classic Charters Ltd and sails UK and continental waters.
The series, billed as the biggest TV event of the summer at a cost of £1.5 million, began with 10 contestants who were originally to sail around the coast of Ireland for eight weeks.