Sean treasures €50,000 win on RTE's reality television show

The huge grin said it all. Sean O'Brien (24) from Midleton in Co Cork was the winner of RTÉ's "reality television" competition, Treasure Island.

Sean, who along with 15 other contestants spent more than a month on the uninhabited Vanua Levu island in Fiji in the South Pacific, recorded the series earlier this year.

He has been at home living in Midleton since the end of May, but he was forced by strict confidentiality agreements with RTÉ not to disclose his win. And he kept the secret right up to last night's party in Dublin's Life bar, held as the final episode was screened by RTÉ.

But of the 16, only four were finalists, and only one looked like he was to hear it officially announced at last that he had won €50,000.

Sean, who had previously travelled to Australia, couldn't even flash a bit of cash around the place since he came home and initially told friends his time had been spent in the US with his brother.

But from June 15th Sean and his co-competitors have become household names as the weekly series chronicled their attempts to survive, find the treasure, create a team spirit and stay in the game against competition from colleagues.

Fly-on-the-wall cameras recorded contestants' pain as the red and blue teams dealt with starvation, illness, exhaustion and each other.

There were emotional responses after each of the trials set by the game.

In one scenario a player would get to vote off someone from their own team, a weakest link or a rival - even as they tried to build team spirit to find food and shelter, and ultimately the €50,000.

The voyeuristic element was enhanced by psychologists Fiona Kelly-Meldon and Ian Gargan in the television studio to give viewers a "real insight into the minds" of the contestants.