The six leaders for 2014 are:
Deirdre O’Donovan
Age: 29
Weight: 18st 9lbs
County: Cork
Young mum, Deirdre is happily married to her childhood sweetheart John. They have been together since they were 14 and are living in Cork with their two children, Sean (12) and Will (2), who has special needs. Deirdre works part-time in Mercy Hospital in Cork as a night- time care assistance. She loves her job but it doesn’t help her diet. The patients love to give her sweets and she doesn’t like to refuse. Lunchtime is 2am in the morning, which normally consists of a takeaway. Deirdre has struggled with her weight from a young age. She has successfully lost weight in the past and managed to get down to 9st 9lbs for her wedding seven years ago, but since then she has almost doubled in size. With her 30th birthday just around the corner, she is dreading the thought of the big party and is determined to finally get her weight under control.
Jennifer Bonus
Age: 37
Weight: 12st 4lbs
County: Cork
Recently widowed, Jennifer is living in Cork city with her daughter Tara (12). Her husband Noel (late 40s) passed away 18 months ago after a short battle with Motor Neuron Disease. He realised he had the disease after watching Colm Murray talk about it on the Late Late show in 2011. Jennifer and Noel met in work and were inseparable for the 13 years they had together. As a single working mum, Jennifer struggles to get the work- home life balance right. Takeaways have become a regular feature in their diet. Noel was always encouraging Jennifer to get out an exercise and she never did so she would love to do a 10k walk or run in his honour. She knows he would be very proud of her. Jennifer knows how precious life is and is determined not to waste it. She wants to get her confidence back so that she can start to move on with her life and feel human again.
Marc Gibbs
Age: 44
Weight: 16st 10lbs
County: Kildare
Father of five, Marc is originally from Dublin but living in Kildare. Weight is an issue for his entire family but they have all taken action to tackle it and now it’s time for Marc to follow suit and do the same. Marc has always struggled with his weight and has tried many fad diets. He goes from one extreme to the next- ‘all you can eat diets’ to ‘ eat nothing diets’. He has a similar relationship with exercise; he was a keen runner and completed the Dublin City Marathon 2 years ago but wouldn’t even manage to jog around his estate now. Marc works as a security guard which isn’t helping his waistline. He works 12-hour shifts surrounded by food. He wants ‘to end his love/ hate relationship’ with himself and his weight and finally get some sustainable balance in his life.
Paudie O’ Mahoney
Age: 61
Weight: 20st 10lbs
County: Kerry
Kerry GAA star, Paudie is a separated father of three and new granddad to baby Dáithí. He was born in Killarney, where he still lives today. Paudie played football with Kerry from minor level in 1970 until retiring from the Senior Squad in 1982. He has 5 Senior All Ireland Medals and the distinction of being the only Senior Inter-County Goalkeeper to have gone through the Senior Championship without conceding a goal. He also won an All-star award in 1975. Rather than feeling like a star, these days Paudie is now embarrassed walking through the town because of how he has let himself go. People often remark on how his physique has changed. Paudie is a trained engineer and ran his own successful consultancy company. After 24 years in business, he was forced to close down earlier this year due to major cash flow problems. It was a very stressful time because so many employees were depending on the business, including his daughter and sister. The stress of the business has really contributed to his weight. Paudi has lost two good friends and teammates, John Egan and Páidí Ó Sé, in the past two years and he doesn’t want to be another member of the team to pass away because of not taking care of himself.
Sarah Campbell
Age: 24
Weight: 15st 8lbs
County: Kildare
Bride to be, Sarah is engaged to electrician Mark. They are young parents to 2 children; Oisin (4) and Grace (11 months). Their son Patrick died 2 years ago, soon after he was born from a stress infection. The last 2 years have been incredibly tough but they are starting to come around now. Having her kids so young, meant Sarah had to grow up very quickly. She feels like she’s 24 going on 60. Over the last 4 years she has kind of forgotten about herself. Mark and Sarah have been together since they were 14. They are getting married in June, but Sarah hasn’t booked the photographer yet as she doesn’t want to think about pictures of herself. She is adamant that she will not be a ‘fat bride.’
Siobhan McKillen
Age: 35
Weight: 13st 12lbs
County: Dublin
Busy working mum, Siobhan is originally from Dundrum but is now living in Clondalkin with her husband Ger and 2 children, Vayda, named after the character from my girl (5) and Killian (2). Siobhan works full time as a tender coordinator, as well as studying part time for a diploma in Business Management, having not opened a book in 20 years. She has guilt issues surrounding being away from her children and admits that she treats them with food to make up for it. Siobhan has been struggling with her weight since she was in her late teens and her size constantly yo-yos up and down. Having children hasn’t helped and she hasn’t managed to get back to her pre-pregnancy figure. She used to love going to the gym, but now she cant seem to find the time to walk to it, even though its only 300m away from her house. She wants to finally learn how to keep her weight under control for herself and all of the hard working mums out there.
Presenter Kathryn Thomas will be on hand along with the four OT experts to encourage and motivate the assembled group. Two new experts have joined the panel – Aoife Hearne – a registered dietician and a member of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute and Dr. Ciara Kelly, GP and expert in family health join familiar faces Karl Henry, fitness expert and Dr. Eddie Murphy, a Principle Clinical Pyschologist with the HSE. Last year’s five leaders – Monica Percy, Deirdre Hosford, Charlotte O’Connell, Gavin Walker and Greg Starr surpassed their original series targets and collectively lost 11 stone 6 pounds.
As Operation Transformation gets underway, The John Murray Show on Radio 1 will follow the leaders’ journeys all the way to the grand finale in February. The four OT experts –Karl, Eddie, Aoife and Ciara will be dropping in to studio throughout January and February to provide the best tips and advice on calorie counting, healthy recipes, exercise and lots of other transformation topics. There will be more interactive content available on www.rte.ie
The seventh series of Operation Transformation will be sponsored by safefood.
For further information please see: www.rte.ie/ot and www.rte.ie/radio1/thejohnmurrayshow Twitter: @johnmurrayshow and @gokathrynthomas and @OpTran7