Will Leahy is celebrating a milestone as he takes up his voiceover duties at the festival for the 18th year. The 52-year-old RTE Gold presenter now ranks himself alongside Rose of Tralee legend Gay Byrne . Dad-of-two Will told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “It’s my 18th Rose of Tralee and Gay Byrne did 18, so I’ve managed to do as many as he did.

He was Mr Rose of Tralee. “People will insult it online but still watch it all night, it’s down to the fact it’s uniquely Irish, you can’t get the Rose of Tralee on Netflix.” READ MORE: Teenager charged in connection with stabbing of army chaplain at Galway barracks READ MORE: Two men arrested and two men hospitalised with serious injuries following Cork assault Ryan Tubridy’s former girlfriend Aoibhinn Ni Shulleabhain was Will’s first ever Rose to be introduced on stage and Ray D’Arcy was his first host.

He joked: “There are Roses there this year that weren’t alive when I started the Rose of Tralee. That’s the funny part about it. We call it summer camp because, for the last 20 years, it’s been the same crew working on it.

“It’s a really hard show to do, every girl has a chance to rehearse. It looks easy but the work that’s required to get the show on the air is huge.” Will said the appeal of the show is “hard to explain”, but it’s watched in 120 countries including Kuwait and the Antarctic.

And he reckons the double act of Daithi and Kathryn has injected new energy into the live telly spectacl.