Donna and Joe: Back to a busier reality

Some of the more-pampered celebrities who took part in "Fáilte Towers" may be relaxing now that the hard work is over, but Donna and Joe McCaul haven"t got the time. After 12 days on the show, it"s estimated that the pair raised around €30,000 for their chosen charity Aware. 'I would have been happy to stay until the weekend, just purely to raise more money for Aware, but I was so, so tired, I was glad to get out and now it"s back to reality,' said Joe. 'We thought we"d raise at least €15,000 but I didn"t realise we"d make so much.' Having been through the trials and tribulations of their first reality TV show and the Eurovision, Joe was delighted by the public"s response to them. 'It was a very good thing in my eyes. After Eurovision, I didn"t think there would be that much positivity, but I"m glad there was.' A peak of 636,000 people tuned in for their tense eviction last week. Since their release back into the real world, things have been busy. Some TV presenting work might be in the pipeline for Joe. He had a screening last Thursday for a new kids" TV show and is waiting to hear back from them. The pair will appear on ICE on September 1 and Joe is starring in a panto in Dublin from October until Christmas time. But working in a hotel is definitely out. The hard work and the stress was real, said Joe, and days began at 6am or 7am and ended after midnight. It was much harder than the pair had imagined and there were one or two times when he didn"t want to be there any more, but it was worth it. 'It was class, it was so much fun. Very stressful and emotional at times, but it was just an amazing two weeks.' Joe"s highlights included learning some Japanese from the tourists, the fake wedding and the nudists coming to stay. 'It was really a case of expect the unexpected,' he said. He said being with Donna was a good thing, as they got to share the work and it was good to have an ally in the show, but he said there was very little back-stabbing or catty remarks. Donna and Joe got on well with Brian Dowling and Michelle Heaton. He said that Brian was an 'energy boost' for all of the contestants and was great entertainment. 'It takes a lot for me to dislike someone anyway, but there were one or two who were slightly bossy,' said Joe. He also praised the terrible trio of judges, who he said were actually very nice. Aware, the charity that supports families and people affected by suicide and depression, was delighted with Donna and Joe"s efforts in the show. The charity praised the siblings for 'raising much-needed awareness of the valuable work of Aware'. An official figure for how much the McCauls raised should be released by the end of the month. Fáilte Towers has been deemed an RTÉ success, with an average of 517,000 people tuning in every night. It"s thought that the station will now sell the format to other countries and a return to our screens next summer looks very likely.