Talent show job's convinced me that it's time to return home for good

February 13th 2009

After years of performing on stage with Boyzone, assessing other people's performances as a judge on the All Ireland Talent Show comes as a welcome relief!

I guess my biggest news this week is that after spending so much time in Dublin filming the new show, I'm convinced that it's now time for me to make Ireland my permanent base again.

I'll be spending every weekend until the middle of next month making the RTE programme and with everything that's going on with Boyzone, it just makes sense. We're going to start rehearsals for the new tour in late March so moving back from Surrey seems like a natural thing. My wife Sheena has always said 'if you ever want to go back, we'll do it'. So, I'm planning to move back into my family's home on the northside very soon, maybe as early as next week.

Competition

After just one live edition of the All Ireland Talent Show last Sunday, I can already see that there's going to be some serious game plans put into action over the coming weeks -- especially from my fellow judge Dana.

I have to say, I'm 100pc delighted with all my entrants and without wanting to sound overly confident, I was very surprised that my act Raw Edge Crew didn't make it through. I was very disappointed that they were the first act to leave the competition. But you win some, you lose some.

We would obviously all like to win this show yet I was a bit amused by the voting tactics. And you get a fair idea of why the judges make certain decisions, as in trying to figure out who would be the most competition for their acts. I think we would all love to win but some people more than others. When it came to the crunch time and Dana had to decide between the two remaining acts, she went for Donna Marie over The Raw Edge Crew, as did Daithi O'Se who had the deciding vote.

She claimed that she just didn't get the whole hip-hop thing, but the thing is, she had a dance act from Belfast in her own top group. In that respect, I feel my guys should have gone through. I reckon Dana knew my act were better than hers and that's why she chose to evict them.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the standard of talent that I saw in Dublin. We had all kinds of weird and wonderful acts coming through the doors to audition for us -- some miles better than others -- but at the end of the day, if people want to be entertained, then this is the show for them.

I'm spending every weekend in Dublin so it's nice to go back home to my little girl Billie Rae (3 months) and my wife Sheena. I've been travelling all my life so I don't mind the flying back and forth. It's really nice to be home in Dublin as I don't spend that much time there. My little girl is great, I absolutely love being a dad. She's coming along in leaps and bounds, and when I come back after going away, she's always a little different.

Passion

Apart from performing, my other passion is race cars so I spent last Tuesday trying to finalise the build for a new drift car. I was up in Sligo recently for the Irish stage of the World Rally Championship and that was brilliant.

It is a dangerous sport but I adore it. Sheena doesn't worry too much about me either. The engineering involved in the cars now is fantastic and people don't really get mashed up that badly anymore.

On Wednesday, I was the knight in shining armour for my lovely neighbour Philomena from Galway. She's in her late 70s and she needed her dog brought to the vet. The roads were very icy around our area so I offered to do it for her, it's nice to look after your neighbours if you can.

Yesterday, I had my first photoshoot for VIP magazine. It was one of those 'at home' features so they came over and set everything up and took some gorgeous pics of the new baby with me and Sheena.

This morning saw me packing my bags and heading over to Ireland to meet up with Keith Duffy and Mikey Graham. We're going out to see Louis Walsh get his Mayo Man of the Year Award so we're all going out to cheer him on at a bash in City West tonight.

Tomorrow night I'm presenting an award at the Irish Film and TV awards with Blathnaid ni Chofaigh so that will be good fun but I can't have too late a night as we're filming the next day.

I'm afraid I'll be spending Valentine's Day away from my lovely wife. Billie Rae's still too young to be left on her own so she's more than happy to look after her at home. Having said that, the baby's getting her first passport next week and things are so hectic for me right now, she'll probably become a total jet-setter in a few weeks time!

http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/talent-show-jobs-convinced-me-that-its-time-to-return-home-for-good-1638895.html