A man who was convicted of the assault of a woman less than two years ago took part in two dating shows on Irish television.
Michael Prendeville, 30, of Lispole, Co. Kerry – who was cast on Virgin Media’s reality dating show Grá Ar An Trá and RTÉ’s Love In The Country – was convicted of the assault of a woman, at Kenmare District Court, Co. Kerry, on December 2, 2022.
The assault happened on February 6, 2022. Since that conviction, Prendeville applied – and was cast – in the two dating shows. While he didn’t appear on either show after his conviction was made known to producers, his original inclusion, prior to broadcast, raises significant questions for candidates and the safety of fellow contestants on reality shows.
Last month, Virgin Media’s dating show Grá Ar An Trá, was dramatically pulled at the eleventh hour. It was reported by the Irish Mail on Sunday that Grá Ar an Trá had been cancelled and would not be shown at all.
Hosted by broadcaster Gráinne Seoige, James Kavanagh and Síomha Ní Ruairc, the much-hyped second series of the Irish language dating show was shelved just four days before it was scheduled to air, on Monday, October 14. Billed as Ireland’s answer to Love Island, Grá Ar An Trá was to feature 12 singletons confined to close quarters in a rural Gaeltacht area where they were encouraged ‘to find love for both the Irish language and each other’.
The winning pair were to take home €10,000. The series was due to run on Virgin Media for five weeks. Ms Seoige had already done pre-publicity for the show and had appeared in photoshoots promoting it. However, just days before its broadcast date, a Virgin Media spokesperson said the series had ‘been rescheduled’. The station did not comment further on the decision.
At the time, it was reported the broadcaster would breach regulatory guidelines by allowing Ms Seoige, who is running for the Dáil in the Galway West constituency, to present a programme during a potential election campaign.
A spokesperson for media regulator Coimisiún na Meán denied it had been in contact with the station about the series, but said all broadcasters are expected to follow guidelines with respect to election coverage.
Now the Mail can reveal that the production company behind Grá Ar An Trá, Macalla Teoranta, were made aware that Prendeville received a conviction for a Section 2 Assault on a woman at Kenmare District Court, on December 2, 2022. Macalla Teoranta were first told of Prendeville’s conviction in early October of this year.
Over several days, the Mail made repeated requests to Virgin Media and Macalla Teoranta to explain the reasons for the sudden ‘rescheduling’ of Grá Ar An Trá. However, these queries went unanswered.
In emails seen by the Mail, executive producer of Grá Ar An Trá, Cúán Mac Conghail – who is listed as ‘film and television producer’ at Macalla Teoranta – said they employed a ‘very thorough process in terms of casting people’. Despite significant efforts, the Mail was unable to get specific answers as to what those processes actually are.
At the time of writing, Virgin Media, Kite Entertainment and Macalla Teoranta had not responded to any queries regarding their screening processes.
Prendeville was also due to be a contestant on the recently aired second series of Love In The Country, hosted by Anna Geary. The dating show, which just finished its six-episode run on RTÉ2, focuses on rural singletons ‘looking for love’. It was produced by Kite Entertainment, which also makes popular shows like Gogglebox Ireland and Ireland’s Fittest Family.
However, despite featuring heavily in early promotional material for Love In The Country, Prendeville was dropped from the show prior to broadcast. He was featured in the original batch of contestants and was described as one of ‘three great guys’. When questions were raised about Prendeville’s appearance on the show, an RTÉ spokesperson said: ‘RTÉ does not comment on its editorial decision-making.’
When further questions were raised with the national broadcaster on how a contestant with an assault conviction made it through the screening process, RTÉ replied: ‘Producers can make editorial changes on shows at any point, from casting to production.’
Kite Entertainment did not respond to any queries concerning how and when they found out about Prendeville’s conviction for assault. It is understood that Prendeville had failed to disclose his criminal conviction. However, researchers and producers are tasked with carrying out comprehensive background and security checks on all applicants to safeguard the security and welfare of all contestants.
Prendeville has also failed to respond to repeated queries from the Mail.
