RTÉ One
TUBRIDY PREDICTS “BIG, BIG, BIG” TOY SHOW THIS YEAR
ACTS FROM ARMAGH TO DONEGAL AIM FOR COVETED TOY SHOW SPOTS ON FINAL DAY OF REGIONAL AUDITIONS
The Late Late Toy Show is going to be “big, big, big” this year, host Ryan Tubridy has predicted as regional auditions for young performers hoping to take part in it ended today.
The regional auditions hit Sligo on Wednesday with acts from across the northern half of Ireland performing for a coveted spot on the biggest show in Irish television, with some travelling from Armagh and Monaghan to try out.
The Late Late Toy Show host Ryan Tubridy was on hand at The Radisson Blu Hotel in Rosses Point, Sligo, to lend his support to the nervous young hopefuls as they waited for their chance to shine in front of the Toy Show team. This is the first year that The Late Late Toy Show has travelled outside of Dublin in search of performers to appear on the show.
Ryan Tubridy said: “The idea of this trip was to meet as many children from around the country as possible and for us to go to them, rather than having them come to us. It has helped because the kids are less tired, they don’t have to travel as far, so they are relaxed. They are on home turf and we get to get a flavour of the kids, their families and the country at large. This has been a success and I want to do it again”.
And he predicted that this year’s Toy Show is going to be bigger than ever, having benefitted from travelling around Ireland in search of talent.
“The talent has been exceptional this year. The Toy Show elves are very happy with what they have seen. In fact, they felt that even after Day One in Cork they could have filled a show. That gives you an idea of how good it is. We have buckets of talent. This is going to be big, big, big,” he said.
Indeed, The Late Late Toy Show producer Katherine Drohan said the variety and standard of acts auditioning over the three days has been “phenomenal”.
“It is getting harder because we are seeing people every day that we want in the show. We are going to have to find room for them because they are just so, so strong and there is no way we want to leave them behind,” she said.
The invite-only auditions now move to Dublin on Monday, October 19th.
“I can’t wait to get to Dublin,” said Katherine Drohan, “We have already seen so many brilliant acts and we know that the standard is going to be as good in Dublin. It is going to be a brilliant Toy Show this year”.
Getting to this stage in the audition process is an achievement in itself. The Toy Show team was inundated with applications this year and every single audition tape has been viewed, so making it through to the regional auditions in Cork, Athlone and Sligo was no easy feat. A total of 16 performers, duos or groups auditioned in Sligo bringing the total number of acts auditioned over the three days to almost 50.
The performers who will make it onto the show won’t be told until much closer to the November 27th broadcast.
There was also great excitement around the country as passersby took snaps of themselves with The Late Late Toy Show car to share on Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #latelatetoyshow in the hope of winning the first two tickets for this year’s programme.
The competition has been running throughout the regional auditions as The Late Late Toy Show car made its way from Cork to Sligo and back to Dublin with the lucky winner to be announced on The Ryan Tubridy Show on RTÉ Radio 1. With more than 200,000 people applying for tickets to last year’s Toy Show, the competition represents a rare opportunity to get in ahead of the rush for the most coveted tickets in Ireland.
Terms and Conditions for the competition can be found here: http://ow.ly/TiujL
For more information contact: Gareth Naughton, RTÉ Television Press and Publicity Officer, T: 01-208-2667 M: 087-979-2822, E: gareth.naughton@rte.ie