That’s a wrap for night one!
Roses show off their skills in Dome
ARABIC scarves, powerlifting and a spot of napkin folding? Don’t ever accuse Rose of Tralee finals of lacking variety.
Last night’s events in the Dome in Tralee proved again that when it comes to Roses and their party pieces, you can expect the unexpected.
A total 18 of the 32 selected Roses showcased their personalities in an effort to win over the nation. And one of the most talked-about Roses, Carlow’s Shauna Ray Lacey, had the Dome’s full attention when she discussed her mother and late father’s struggle with heroin addiction.
Ms Lacey, who hopes to be the contest’s first ever ‘mummy rose’ sang Aslan’s Crazy World in front of the 1,800 strong crowd, including her daughter Emmy, three, and mother Angela, 44.
‘Growing up I wasn’t given the best hand of cards. My parents suffered from heroin addiction. Every second home in Ireland, there is a least one person suffering from addiction,’ she told host Dáithí Ó Sé. ‘I wanted to share my story to inspire anyone watching that you don’t have to choose the path that their parents went down,’ Lacey, who works with charity Lá Nua, earlier told the Irish Daily Mail.
Elsewhere, the Florida Rose won many over with her beautiful opera skills. Victoria Sexton, who emigrated from Rathmuck, Kildare to Ocala, Florida in 2004, revealed that she won a scholarship to sing in St Francis’ Cathedral in Assisi in Italy for a summer before singing opera in pitch-perfect Italian. It was all-action earlier when, the Westmeath Rose lifted Ó Sé on her back. The Today show host proved himself a good sport, throwing himself into the party piece and allowing Leanne Quinn to squat lift him after saying she could hold up to ‘60 or 70 kilos’. It was a more delicate affair with Imelda Scally, the Leitrim Rose, who got Dáithí to try some origami with napkins, culminating in a bishop’s hat on the host’s head. Meanwhile the Abu Dhabi Rose brought some culture to the stage when she dressed Ó Sé in a keffiyeh, an Arabic scarf. Sara Kate Mangan, a nurse from Mayo, wrapped the traditional scarf around his face after telling an anecdote about being offered in marriage in exchange for three camels. Other turns of the night included Irish dancing from the New Zealand Rose, jujitsu from Toronto, and fake cow milking from Laois. The remaining 14 Roses will take to the stage tonight before the 59th Rose of Tralee is revealed.