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‘Fáilte Towers’ Opens its Doors to RTÉ
17 Jul 2008 :
Failte Towers
Adare Productions’ new reality series ‘Fáilte Towers’, which sees 12 celebrities take over the running of a hotel for 16 days, kicks off at 9.30pm, Saturday August 2nd on RTÉ One. IFTN caught up with series producer, Ciaran Gallagher, to find out what he has in store for the novice hoteliers.

‘Fáilte Towers’ is set to follow the ups and downs of 12 personalities as they tackle the task of running a busy country hotel for 16 days. The dozen celebs, to be revealed in the coming days, will take up residence in Bellingham Castle, County Louth, from August 2nd – 17th and will be required to cook and serve meals twice daily in the hotel’s forty seat restaurant, manage the hotel reception and keep the bar running smoothly while looking after guests staying in fourteen hotel rooms. And with 24 hour room service available, the hoteliers will have little time for sleep.

The 10 x 60min series begins airing at 9.30pm on August 2nd, culminating in a final show on Sunday 17th August. The live shows, presented by Baz Ashmawy (How Low Can You Go) and Aidan Power (TTV), will be directed by David Donaghy (Irish Film & Television Awards), with a team of producer / directors on hand to capture footage over the two week run.

“The celebrities have two days of training the week before the show begins on the 2nd of August,” Gallagher tells IFTN. “We will bring in three expert trainers - a chef, a front of house person and a restaurateur, who are going to come in and teach the group pretty much everything they need to know about how to run the hotel for the two weeks. They will learn how to cook a set menu which they will prepare and serve to the guests during their stay. After the two days, the staff will leave the celebrities to their own devices and they’ve got to run the hotel on their own, without outside help.”

In the coming weeks, a camera and sound crew will set up camp in Bellingham Castle, ready to capture the action 24/7. Windmill Lane’s Gerry McCarthy and Martin Birney will head a large camera crew on the series, and five hotel rooms will double as edit suites for the show’s duration. All editing will be done onsite, overseen by DVD and online editor Darren Chan.

“We will have at least one or two cameras on the celebs at all times and have five crew members on the hotel grounds, following the action. A huge rig will be installed in the hotel in the coming weeks. Once all the microphones are installed, there won’t be anywhere the residents can go without being heard.”

Co. Louth’s picturesque Bellingham Castle was chosen as the ideal venue for the series after a countrywide search for the perfect location.

“We had narrowed our search down to two or three different places but it just absolutely suits what we need,” said Gallagher. “The Castle has a great look and has got just the right amount of rooms. It’s got good challenging facilities but not so many that the celebrities will be overloaded. It doesn’t have a leisure centre or a swimming pool, but has a bar, a couple of function rooms, a restaurant and a great kitchen. Plus it’s got space where the celebrities themselves can stay, as they will be living in the hotel the whole time.”

Preparation for ‘Failte Towers’ began in early June and production is already underway. The twelve participants are now recording interviews that reveal their thoughts on the daunting task that lies ahead.

“The show will be recorded live, similar in style to ‘Hells Kitchen’,” says Gallagher. “On each hour long broadcast, presented by Baz and Aidan, we will show footage from the previous day, broadcast live links to the hotel and have a crowd gathered outside the grounds every evening.

A panel of hotel experts will be on hand throughout the series to voice their opinion on how the hoteliers are faring - former TV and radio presenter Bibi Baskin, who now runs an exclusive hotel in India; Derry Clark from Michelin star Dublin restaurant L’Ecrivain and Sammy Leslie from Castle Leslie, which famously hosted the Mills - McCartney wedding. Viewers will be able to vote for their favorite hotelier by phone. The three celebrities who receive the lowest votes will go before the judging panel on each live show, choosing one celeb they want to send packing. The group will be whittled down to five remaining contestants for the show’s grand finale on Sunday August 17th, when the public will vote for the person they want to crown the ‘Fáilte Towers’ champion. Proceeds from all phone votes will go toward the celebrities chosen charities.

“The panel will be setting a standard for how the hotel should be run and making sure our celebrities stick to it,” said Gallagher. “They’re all very adamant about customer care and family service and will be looking out for anyone who doesn’t meet their standards or toe the line. At the end of the day the panel will decide who goes and who stays.”

Guests at the hotel are just as important as the people in charge, and the producers will be eager to hear how the guests size up their celebrity hosts. Applications have been flooding in via the RTÉ website from members of the public wishing to book a room at the hotel. “Over the two and a half weeks we can accommodate a total of 250 people, and we’ve already received around 4000 applications!”

Series producer on ‘Fáilte Towers’ are Ciaran Gallagher and Brian Graham, with producers Tom Evans, Ben Kelly, Jackie Slattery, consulting producers Pearse Lehane and executive producers Lynda Mc Quaid.

‘Failte Towers’ airs at 9.30pm on Saturday, August 2nd on RTÉ Two.



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