The Rose of Tralee has certainly managed to make itself a talking point this week, between a protester on stage and the Sydney Rose calling for action to repeal the eighth. Now the Down Rose has come out with some very strong opinions about the festival, saying how she "did not sign up for a cheap reality television show".
Fainche McCormack posted a message Rose of Tralee's Facebook page where she didn't hold back on how she felt about what went down in Kerry, although the post has since been deleted.
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McCormack was one of the Rose's who took part in the televised 'cull' of Roses on Sunday. This year was the first year they scrapped the Regional Finals in favour of a new revamped selection process which saw 65 Roses whittled down to 32. They did this in an X Factor-style process (for an upcoming documentary called Road To The Dome) whereby they had the successful roses in one room, and not-so-successful Roses in another. Brutal 'ey?
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Festival director Anthony O'Gara told Independent.ie that it wasn't unusual for Roses who didn't make the final cut to have "strong reactions".
However, he did agree that "the manner in which the announcement was made was insensitive and we'll take that on board.
"We have apologised to the Roses. I accept that Fainche is genuinely upset and I understand. The girls weren't properly briefed ahead of Sunday night's show."
He added: "Fainche enjoyed the 15-day experience and had continued to do so for the remaining two days. It's unfortunate that Sunday night ruined her overall experience."
