‘Leap of Faith’ sees Kellie win dream trip
A NEW ROSS woman won a trip of a lifetime – during which she got to meet singer songwriter Dermot Kennedy in New York – by being willing to take a leap of faith in an exciting radio competition.
To mark the 2020 leap year, regional radio station Beat 102103 and City Square Shopping Centre Waterford decided to create a competition for one lucky listener and a friend but there was one catch: listeners were invited to take a ‘ leap of faith’ and register for the promotion without knowing anything about the final prize. The only information provided by Beat FM was that the winner would have to be available on February 29, with passport at the ready and suitcase in tow for one memorable weekend.
Thousands entered from all over the south east and after four weeks of qualifying rounds, by Friday February 28, just two people remained: Kellie O’Neill from New Ross and Amy Williams from Carlow. The pair had to make their way to the Broadcast Centre in Waterford City where they were brought live on air. The presenter revealed that they were about to be blindfolded and chauffeured to Dunmore Adventure for a nail-biting finale, hosted live on air by Beat’s drive-time presenter Darren Rice and Big Saturday presenter Shonagh Lyons from Wexford. Katie and Amy had to complete a time trial involving a challenging, water based, obstacle course which culminated in a giant leap of faith off the centre’s inflatable ‘wibit’ into the sea where they then had to swim to shore and ring a bell to sound the end of the time trial.
The two women battled through the course courageously, cheered on by friends and family from the shoreline and via Beat’s social media.
After an epic battle an emotional Kellie was crowned the overall winner of Leap of Faith 2020 and she finally found out her prize... well, the first part at least.
Kellie and her friend Jenny Delaney were whisked off to the Gibson Hotel in Dublin where they enjoyed a Kisstory gig in the 3Arena featuring acts like Nelly, Shaggy and Salt N Peppa. They couldn’t party too late into the night though as they were told that Beat presenter Darren Rice had to take them to Dublin airport for 10 a.m. the following morning. At the airport, it was revealed via video link that
London was their next stop, to see Tones and I perform live.
The epic journey didn’t stop there. The following day, the pair found out that it was time to travel across the Atlantic to New York to experience an intimate gig with one of Ireland’s hottest acts, Dermot Kennedy.
The surprises kept coming; Kellie and Jenny discovered not only were they going to the gig but were also going to get to meet Kennedy in the flesh. The whirlwind weekend of three concerts in three different countries came to a climax when Beat’s Darren Rice handed over the final piece of the prize, $500 in cash for the pair to have a little shopping spree in NYC before returning home.