It wouldn't be an Irish summer without that annual pilgrimage to Kerry. Sorry Puck, you may be King of the Fair in Killorglin, but there's no fairer lady in Ireland than the Rose of Tralee.
Host Daithi O'Se was sporting a fresh bit of bum fluff (taking a nod from Jeremy Paxman are we now Daithi?) as he greeted the 'lovely girls' at Dublin airport earlier today. The ladies have finally all landed in the Irish capital you see, and so begins the week long tour that will take them to heart of Kerry.
The 32 girls will have to get used to the sight of a camera over the next 7 days, as it's been revealed that new Rose of Tralee 'Red Room' will beam footage directly into Irish homes during that dreaded 9 o'clock news break. Sure t'is straight out of The Voice of Ireland, wha? As long as we get to meet more of those cutlery winning escorts we'll be perfectly happy.
We've started taking bets here in the office as regards who we think will scoop the crown, though we still haven't seen enough of the girls to decide who'll set the Festival Dome alight. As Father Ted once said, we're sure they all have lovely bottoms.
Oh, and there's a bit of good news for you former Westlife fans too. Shane Filan will be at the Festival, and take to the stage on his tod for a bit of a tune on Tuesday night. We'd love to see himself and Mr O'Shea team up for an oul duet. G'wan the lads.
Catch the Rose of Tralee next Monday and Tuesday, August 19th and 20th, on RTE1.