Armagh exile Aaron is all set for 'Rose' role

A MUCH-travelled Armagh native is set to feature in the 2023 Rose of Tralee.

But rather than being one of the 32 contests, 28-year-old Aaron Rath will be there in the role of an escort.

Explaining the circumstances and his role in next week’s annual showpiece – the 62nd Rose of Tralee - he told the Ulster Gazette, “In the past my mum would have watched the Rose on RTÉ, so I would have seen bits and pieces of it, though I’d no great interest.

“But during my time at college I worked for about five years as a care assistant in as care home in Newtownards. And when I was about 21 one of the nurses told me that she’d been in the Rose of Tralee, that she’d had a ball and that she thought I’d be perfect as an escort in it.

“The whole thing sounded like a bit of craic and a really cool experience, so I sort of put it on a bucket list without ever really looking into it any further.

“But having recently moved to work in Singapore, a fella from Cork I share accommodation with told me that he’d done it two or three years ago and that he’d really enjoyed it, so having been reminded, I submitted an application around February.

“I got a call for an interview which only lasted about 15 minutes, and they said they’d love to have me, so that set the wheels in motion.

“With me being in Singapore, trying to arrange time off work created a wee bit more hassle than most of the other 31 guys will have had, but I managed to get everything sorted.”

Asked what has since happened Aaron replied, “The 32 of us have been through a boot camp which, as well as enabling us to get to know each other, was good craic.

“The 32 girls are all from different parts – and not necessarily in Ireland; they just have to have some Irish generational ancestry.”

The festival’s reflection of the Irish diaspora worldwide is proven by the fact that this year’s finalists include contestants from Rose Centres across Ireland, the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, all of whom will be making their way to County Kerry for the big festival which this year runs from Friday, August 18 to Tuesday, August 22.

Aaron and his 31 colleagues will be in Tralee from this Thursday (August 17) to meet and greet them.

“We’ll be there to keep them right and make sure nobody is hassling them throughout the festival,” is how he described the escorts’ roles. “Obviously there’s going to be a fair bit of media attention and as well as that there’ll be plenty of people wanting to speak to them at the various events and venues, so we’ll be arm-in-arm with them as they make their way into and out of those. Basically, we’re just there to make sure the girls aren’t being hassled.”

When asked if each escort was responsible for a specific ‘Rose’, Aaron replied, “We’ll meet the 32 girls on Thursday at the Ball and by means of various interactions we’ll get the chance to meet them one by one. Already each of us has been matched up with a particular Rose, but at this stage we don’t know who that is.”

And then he explained, “As well as us looking after the girls, there are four or five chaperones who will be looking after us! They themselves were escorts in the past – maybe 10 years ago – so they know how the whole Rose of Tralee works.

“They’re the ones who will have provisionally paired each of us with a particular girl based of who they feel will get on best, due to things like where they're from or what their interests are.

“They’ll see how we interact on Thursday night and if all goes well, the on Friday morning – the start of the festival – they’ll announce who we’ll be looking after for the five days.”

Aaron and his 31 colleagues will be in the front row when ‘live’ shows are televised by RTÉ on Monday and Tuesday (August 21 and 22). The show format will see 16 of the ‘Roses’ interviewed individually on each of the two nights.

But the Monday night also will see all 32 escorts called to the stage for the presentation of the ‘Escort of the Year’ award ahead of the Rose of Tralee being named the following night.

“We [the escorts] will be on stage on Monday night, but on each of the two nights when the Roses are being interviewd by Daithí (Ó Sé), they could just mention something funny or silly involving their escort and if that happens the camera could just switch to you for a moment. With the two shows being ‘live’, you don’t know what might happen.”

The boot camp also was filmed, so what – if anything – RTÉ might choose to show of that remains to be seen. Again, that’s going to be a case of fingers crossed for Aaron and the other escorts.

“The boot camp – at which we were also given do’s and don’ts and clear instructions about what exactly the role of an escort entails - was two-and-a-half months ago,” Aaron said. “It was also about getting to know each another, so with a range of personalities and people from all over Ireland, plus two American guys with Irish roots as well, it was savage craic! I think some of that might be broadcast, probably on Monday night.

“It’ll be the same when we meet the girls, I suppose - different personalities from all over the place - so with a group of 64 that should be interesting! I just see this as a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he added.

Stepping into the unknown is unlikely to faze him, however., for Aaron – a software enginner – has led a pretty adventurous life to date.

Currently he works for Bank of America in Singapore.

Originally from Armagh, his working career began in Newry where he was employed by First Derivatives, following which he worked on site in Dublin for a client of the bank.

From there he moved to Sweden where, for three years he led a software project for a different bank in Stockholm.

“I then moved to Singapore 11 months ago, again with First Derivatives, for another bank, and then in May I switched to Bank of America,” Aaron said. “They’re a new bank and I’m full-time with them in Singapore. I’m mad-keen on travelling,” he said matter-of-factly.

Clearly he has travelled to good effect career-wise. And quite apart from his success in his job, his ability to make friends and assimilate in wholly new environments played a major part in his managing to secure the sponsorship he needed to take part in the 2023 Rose of Tralee.

“You have to self-fund the whole festival side of things and that’s something like 1,500 Euro,” Aaron said. “When you’re picked then, you have to front that cash, so you’re looking for local businesses to sponsor you.

“Initially, in order to ensure I’d be able to take part, I’d paid that. And then, having done that, I reached out to a couple of different places in the hope of getting some sponsorship towards covering my outlay.

“I thought it might be difficult enough to find people, but the Irish community in Singapore is quite good. I play a bit of GAA out there, so two of the lads who own a physio company called Physio 101 helped me.

“And there’s another guy who helps sponsor our gaelic team and owns two Irish bars; he sponsored me as well.”

The exploits and expertise of this evidently-talented Armagh exile with his impressive variety of skills can be viewed on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from 8pm this Monday and Tuesday when the event will be broadcast live from the Kerry Sports Academy at the Munster Technological University.