RTE gets the ball rolling for new series of Celebrity Bainisteoir
Surprise hit Celebrity Bainisteoir is set to return to RTE for another GAA tournament.
Sources at RTE said that bosses are on the look out for new participants in the reality show that sees grassroots GAA meeting glamorous personalities.
"They are currently on the hunt for celebs but nobody has been tipped yet," the source said.
"They are looking for people with strong local GAA clubs in the locality."
And fans of the show won't have to wait until next summer to see some of their favourite celebs training with a local GAA team.
"There is going to be a Christmas special," a source confirmed. But he said that the next series will be broadcast next summer.
The last series of the red carpet meets red lemonade affair was broadcast in the spring. It saw eight celebrities pitting their wits against each other, training and managing tough GAA football players.
Bainisteoiri were responsible for team training, tactics and for picking the teams. And now, the series is set to return for another mighty meeting of minds and mettle.
Baz Ashmawy, presenter of the recent Failte Towers, models Glenda Gilson and Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain and comedian Jon Kenny participated in the show. Also starring as stand-in bainisteoiri were politician Ivan Yates and journalist Nell McCafferty.
Mary O'Rourke dropped out of managing Maryland GAA Club in Co Westmeath. But this team went on to win the competition, coached by Marty Whelan, who eventually beat Gerald Kean's Mayfield GAA Club.
The celebrities admitted that they found the challenge of months of training in all weathers very difficult. Glenda Gilson said that she cried on the first day in charge. "I wasn't able for it at all and felt I was like a schoolgirl on a street corner trying to be cool in front of boys," she said.