Limerick Traitors star identifies next reality TV show he'd love to take on

WHEN Limerick's Paudie Moloney applied for The Traitors Ireland, he never imagined it would lead to “complete strangers” shouting greetings at him from passing cars. Yet the retired prison officer from Kilmallock has become one of the most recognisable faces from the RTÉ reality series.

“I would never have thought for one minute while I was filming it or even before I started watching it that anything like this would have happened. It's surreal to be honest.”

The show was filmed in late March and early April of this year but Paudie said he wasn't conscious of how he would be perceived as he was filming the reality show. “I didn't realise that I was going to be effing as much... and even if I did, I thought maybe they might bleep it out.”

Despite this, Paudie said he was very conscious of the cameras during the roundtables. “You're kind of aware of it, more so than out in the castle but you do absolutely just relax into it and you take no notice.”

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Speaking about the prospect of doing reality TV again, Paudie said no door is closed. “You never know if the opportunity came my way.”

He would love to take part in Dancing With the Stars if asked to take on the challenge but is concerned about his fitness. “You've got to have a certain level of fitness. I think my fitness level mightn't be high enough. If you could work on that, maybe, but I would enjoy doing something like that.”

Paudie was dubbed the Paudfather by fans of The Traitors, a nickname that he isn't phased by. “I was called a lot worse than that in my day. I've had worse nicknames.”

The Kilmallock native is a self-professed “home bird” and following his banishment from Slane Castle, he said he really looked forward to getting home to his wife Bernadette. “Since I retired, we've been together all the time. We get into our campervan and we go away together.”

Paudie retired from his role as a prison officer 15 years ago but said the stress he experienced on Traitors versus working in a prison was heightened.

“You have stress in the prison service but I was absolutely at heightened levels of, you know, watching your back, watching your front, watching what you were saying, looking to see could you see were people talking about you... You were just on high alert all the time so, yeah, there was a lot of stress, but a lot of fun. It was great craic, and I really enjoyed doing it. I wouldn't change it, not for anything," he explained.

Paudie always wanted to be a traitor rather than a faithful but said he didn't know if it would be fun. “It was good fun kind of escaping, and managing to be at the round table and survive and that happened me a good three or four nights. My name came up a lot and it just kind of drifted away for a while and then, of course, when it came back, it came back big. I enjoyed the roundtables much more.”

Viewers enjoyed Paudie's personality on screen particularly during the funeral scene when Christine, a faithful from Cork, was murdered. He immersed himself fully into the character of a mourning relative. He explained: “I went into full funeral mode... you might as well lighten it up a small bit and have a bit of fun with it.”

Paudie revealed that he “never for one minute” thought he'd do a reality show. “I never thought I'd get it. I applied for it hoping. I thought there was a few things against me, including my age... but I was pleasantly surprised when I got it and I watched all the Traitors. I know it's a reality show, but it's a game as well.”

He added: “I love the game and I wanted to play the game. I never would have thought of doing reality (TV) but that's what it is.”

Paudie previously admitted to playing up his age to appear more vulnerable and to throw other players off from guessing his status as a traitor. “From the very start, I was telling the girl contestants, this is great, my grandchildren will lap this up because I'm doing the missions and I'm getting on with it and I'm not being left behind with the missions. I did play that role a bit.”

He said his grandchildren love that he's on TV. “They're absolutely loving it and all their friends in school are asking them, is that your granddad and all that kind of stuff.”