It costs €1,000 to become a Rose of Tralee escort, is it worth it?

This year between 350 and 500 women are expected to apply for the Rose of Tralee competition. Up to 300 young men are also expected to put their hats in the ring to become a Rose escort, and the lucky ones selected will pay €1,000 for the pleasure.

Beginning in 1959, the Rose of Tralee sees one winner crowned on the basis of her potential as a good role model and ambassador for Ireland during her travels around the world. Escorts who work hardest during the festival looking after their assigned Rose, are similarly crowned Escort of the Year.

This year about 100 men will be selected for interview and 40 will make it to a bootcamp weekend in Dingle in June. From there, 32 will be selected as escorts for the coming festival.

Steve Cronley, a former escort of the year and current director of operations at the festival, says most escorts obtain sponsorship from businesses to raise the necessary funds. When each Rose is selected, their somewhat lower €200 fee goes towards a week-long tour of Ireland, five nights in Tralee with a gala ball and dinner – accommodation included. Similarly, selected escorts must pay more than €1,000. This goes towards bootcamp and a week in Tralee, a price that in recent years was as high as €1,500.

‘Illegal abortions are not an old story for many women’

---

Gilbert Gottfried, Aladdin and SNL star, dies aged 67

---

Derry Girls season 3: We’re Taken by surprise when a certain Irish actor puts in a cameo

---

Cronley says the total cost per escort is on average €3,500 to €4,000, the balance of which is covered by festival sponsors. “It’s a small fee to pay and the experience is priceless.”

'Escorts look after Roses. They help them out as much as possible with anything they might need [at the festival]'

Dresses and suits are generally paid for by Roses and escorts, but with accommodation, food, hairstyling, makeup and many activities included within the up front fee, the additional costs are comparatively low.

Entry requirements also state that Roses can enter aged 18, but escorts must be at least 21, why? “We would like [the escort] to be a couple of years older,” says Cronley. “From feedback, we find that the roses would like the older gentleman… It actually makes total sense when we see it in action, to have the guy [aged] 21 or 22 escorting the young ladies in Tralee… I suppose maturity is a feature in that as well.”

The festival accepts roses who are “female or identify as female” and escorts who are “male or identify as male”. Although they have yet to include a transgender or non-binary participant, Cronley says the festival is “more inclusive this year. It’s 2022 and if it happens, it’s great and we welcome that opportunity”.

So why become an escort? Limerick man Patrick O'Donnell (30) was an escort in 2017 and found love in Tralee.

“Escorts look after Roses. They help them out as much as possible with anything they might need [at the festival]. It’s a busy week for them so anything they might need us to do we try to help as much as possible.”

'I met [my fiancée]  towards the end of the festival, and I suppose we hit it off straight away'

It cost €1,500 for O’Donnell to enter the competition which he says is a “once in a lifetime opportunity”. Like many escorts, he was sponsored by a local business where he was working at the time.

O’Donnell met his fiancée Chloe McGrath at the festival. “It’s 100 per cent worth it,” he says. "The fact that you meet friends for life [is great].” Although he admits it can be expensive, he says he’s “delighted he did it”.

“I actually wasn’t her escort… I met her towards the end of the festival, and I suppose we hit it off straight away.”

Shortly after the festival, O'Donnell went travelling in Australia for six months. The pair kept in touch and spent Christmas together down under. Fast forward to now and the pair are living in Co Waterford with their 13-month-old daughter Lily.

The Rose of Tralee Escort of The Year 2022 will be announced on RTÉ during the first night of the televised shows in August to an expected audience of up to one million viewers. The winning escort wins a prize including €1,000 in cash, along with becoming a global Ambassador for the Rose of Tralee Escort community.

The closing date for Rose of Tralee Escort applications is April 22nd, roseoftralee.ie