We’d be so great as chat hosts... I swear!
Daniel on cursing fears as he and Majella hit screens in US road trip
SINGER Daniel O’donnell reckons he and wife Majella would make great chat show hosts – but warned there might be “too many beeps”.
The Donegal star, who is back on RTE tonight, said they could be the next Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford – so long as the swearing is edited out.
He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “We do tend to forget sometimes we’re being filmed and I think that is how things come across on the show.
“But I don’t think there was too many bleeps on the road trip thankfully.”
Majella, who is now a household name after publicly battling cancer and writing a best-selling book about her mental health woes, agrees.
She said: “I think we would make a couple of good hosts on a television chat show. But I wouldn’t like to be working full-time.
“That is why the B&B thing is great for us. We do it for three or four weeks and then it’s done.
SURPRISES
“I don’t really want to do anything for too long, that is the only change in my life since my cancer.”
Daniel & Majella’s American Road Trip sees the pair get up to a range of activities as they travel across the US in a huge motorhome with plenty of surprises along the way.
In episode one, the bickering couple stop off at the trailer of superfan Helen Lynne whose humble home is crammed with Daniel memorabilia.
Things take an unexpected twist when the 57-year-old singer asks to use the bathroom and discovers a toilet seat cover with his image emblazoned on it.
Recalling his shock, Daniel said: “That must be the ultimate – to get on the throne, it was unbelievable.
“We know Helen well enough but only from coming to the shows. The amazing thing was she knew everything that was there, where everything was, had every single item documented.”
In tonight’s episode the couple try their hand at baseball and Daniel nearly comes a cropper as he learns to water ski on the lakes of Wisconsin.
They also get to ride Elvis Presley’s favourite roller coaster the Zippin Pippin.
But their patience is tested as they travel from Chicago to North Dakota.
The three-week trip is peppered with rows over sat nav directions, sleeping arrangements in tight quarters and having to clean out the loo in the morning.
Daniel said: “Emptying the toilet out, that wasn’t too nice. But all in all it’s a
great way to travel. It’s something we talked about ourselves and thought it would be good.
“We were expecting a huge RV and that was not exactly how it panned out. But what we got was fine in the end.”
Majella, 58, admitted their relationship was sorely tested as she took on the driving and Daniel piped up all too regularly from the passenger seat.
She said: “He puts up with a lot from me, shouting and all that. But in the end
We do tend to forget we are being filmed and I think that’s how it came across
DANIEL O’DONNELL
ON RECORDING US ROAD TRIP
it was actually fine. Daniel is very easy to be with. If things ever escalate he always defuses it very quickly. Towards the end it got tough. We were all getting a bit tired and tempers were a bit fraught.”
One of the less memorable moments for Majella was the “haunted” B&B where guests pay to have the wits scared out of them overnight.
She said: “It’s called Dead By Dawn B&B and they scare the life out of you all night long. They come in every hour and a half or so to give you a nasty surprise.
“So you’re nearly asleep and then somebody like Freddy Krueger will walk into the room. You’re in a room full of clowns, I didn’t know what was going to happen next.
“You had these old, shrivelled looking men coming in and sitting beside you on the bed. Daniel did a lot of nervous laughing but I was just screaming.”
Daniel’s latest release broke UK chart records during the week when he became the first artist to have had an album in the top 30 for 32 consecutive years.
Having just wrapped up a tour of Australia he will meet Majella in Singapore as they embark on a six-week cruise down the Suez Canal. Daniel, who also appeared on Strictly Come Dancing, said: “We’ll have a great time, we both enjoy cruises. I’ve just learnt how to play bridge so I can do classes on the days we’re at sea and Majella likes to paint.
“As for the B&B adventure, I said before that we wouldn’t do any more and then we landed back on, so I won’t make a liar of myself a second time.
“We’ll see how this goes and we’ll see how the future goes. The nice thing about it is we don’t have to do it.” Majella added: “I’m looking forward to the cruise. My health is good, I’m still in remission and I’m enjoying my life. “I tried to stay off this and that after my illness but then I thought, ‘Life’s too short and what will be will be’. “My life will end when it’s meant to so I’m just going to enjoy every minute of it.” ■ Daniel & Majella’s American Road Trip is on RTE One tonight at 9.30pm. news@irishmirror.ie