Kathryn Thomas joins coaches Anna Geary, Davy Fitzgerald, Donncha O’Callaghan and Derval O’Rourke as the show becomes more ambitious this year.
The series is set to be even more challenging as the world renowned ATS Team, who have designed stunt experiences for television shows such as The Amazing Race, American Ninja Warrior and The Biggest Loser, have designed daring new challenges for Ireland’s fittest families.
***Below not for publication until after Episode 1 airs on Sunday 28 October***
Round two of the competition begins in episode two and sees Ireland’s Fittest Family in a brand new location, a disused and abandoned tannery in Portlaw in Waterford.
Over the course of two weeks the coaches will bring their three families to this location where they will fight it out for two places on their coaches team in the quarterfinals.
This week it is the turn of Davy Fitzgerald and Derval O’Rourke to test their families and find out who is the fittest and strongest amongst them.
Davy’s families take on a tyre challenge that pushes them to their limits. His families are the Pierses from Kerry, the Lipinskis from Tipperary and the McDonalds from Laois. This challenge is a time trial and the fastest family to complete it goes straight through to the quarterfinals while the remaining two must fight it out for one place in the quarterfinals.
The Lipinskis are the first Polish family to take part in Ireland’s Fittest Family. Justyna and Darak moved to Ireland 15 years ago with their children who have grown up in Tipperary. Oskar is the leader of the family and at 17 years of age has already amassed a following of 15K on Instagram. The Lipinskis come in to round two slight underdogs as they came last in the Battle of the Beach in round one but they aren’t letting that letting that get into their heads and are here to win today.
The McDonalds and Pierses are both strong competitors as they came first and fourth respectively in the Battle of the Beach and avoided Vertigo in round one. The McDonalds are cross-country runners and with two women in the team who are determined to show how strong and fit they are. While the Pierses will look to put down a marker to show Davy they mean business.
Derval’s families are the Cartys from Sligo, the Finnegans from Cork and the Sinnotts from Wexford. These families are all very evenly matched and will be put through their paces in a fire truck pull. The fastest family avoids the eliminator and gets the first place on team Derval in the quarterfinals. The remaining two must compete against each other for that final spot.
The episode has two tightly contested eliminators for team Davy and team Derval. All the families give it their all but the ramps at the end of the eliminator decide who goes through and who goes home in nail biting finishes.
Story Notes
- New location for IFF – Portlaw in Waterford
- Lipinskis are the first Polish family on IFF
- Cartys are the first family from Sligo on IFF
- Return of IFF eliminators with the signature ramps