By Claire Corrigan
The highlight of last night’s Rose of Tralee was easily Westmeath Rose Leanne Quinn’s interview during which the Coralstown lady more than held her own on stage with presenter Dáithí Ó Sé with her down-to-earth and modest nature.
To top it off, Leanne who is an avid powerlifter, decided the stage was the perfect place to show everyone how it’s done, by lifting the show’s host, Dáithí Ó Sé up on her back.
Revealing that she competes in powerlifting competitions Leanne explained. “You have three major lifts which are a squat, a bench press and a deadlift.”
Four “spotters” then took to stage with Leanne explaining, “They are here to protect you.” to a clearly apprehensive Dáitihí.
“I’m going to hook the back of your knee with my elbow,” Leanne said to a nervous looking Dáithí, to which he replied, “Hold on a second now, you want me to lie all the way across?”
“I really don’t think he wants to do it,” Leanne joked, before proceeding to lift the 42-year-old host up in the air. In the meantime, Twitter has been lighting up with messages of encouragement and admiration for Leanne, who is currently residing in Newmarket-on-Fergus ‘The Rose Village’ in Co Clare.
Wearing a beautiful yellow Bardot-style draped dress, Leanne looked more radiant and glamourous than ever when she took to the stage to chat to Dáithí
The 25-year-old who hails from Coralstown and is a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer immediately waved to her family and friends from the stage. “If there is one thing that I’m proud of this year, it’s just how active a role they have had in my time as a Rose.
I just want to say thank you so much guys. I really really appreciate all the sacrifices and road trips. It’s really made my year.”
When asked about the swallows tattooed on her wrist, she replied that they represented her and her siblings.
“A good few years ago I did a lot of travelling and they might not admit it, but they definitely missed me when I went away. Because swallows tend to leave but always come back, I wanted to get them to represent the fact I will always come back home.”
Leanne completed her undergraduate in Psychology at University of Limerick and worked for a short while in management consulting before deciding on a complete change of career and studying sports performance.
“I took a year out between first and second year in college and lived in Canada for a short while and then went to Scotland to study. I went to New York for a short stint as well.”
During the interview, Dáithí couldn’t resist poking fun at her fears of cows and showed a photo of Leanne looking terrfied beside a calf. “I was trying to pet that calf for 45 minutes.
I was having heart palpitations.” she laughed.
The winner of the show will be announced tonight on RTE 1.
