Cork woman who won TV dating show said she was 'expecting to leave within the first few days'

The Cork woman who scooped the top prize in a new Irish language dating show said that she had expected she would be leaving the show within the first few days. 

Carrigaline native Talia Murphy was crowned the winner of the first season of Grá ar an Trá, Virgin Media's new Irish language twist on popular dating show Love Island.

Presenters Gráinne Seoige, James Kavanagh, and Síomha Ní Ruairc brought ten singletons to the Gaeltacht, where they attempted to find love while brushing up on their Irish.

There were various challenges, re-couplings, and a few other twists over the five weeks, before the winners were selected by Gráinne Seoige, who observed the couples throughout the show and selected them on the basis of making the most effort with learning Irish.

Talia was paired up with Galway Gaeilgeoir Zak, and the young couple took home a €10,000 grand prize as they were crowned ‘The Couple With The Most Focail’.

Talia told The Echo that she was delighted the last episode had aired so that she didn’t have to keep it a secret anymore, as the final was filmed last May. 

Speaking about the experience, she said: “I was not expecting to walk into that big of a house, it was literally a mansion.

“I also wasn’t expecting how big the show, was the amount of people on the production team was insane, I thought I was going to be a small thing.” 

Talia is in third year of a degree in Sustainable Energy Engineering, and explained that she and Zak entered the show two days after everyone else because she had been doing exams up until then.

“I was expecting to leave within the first few days, I did not pack enough” she laughed, explaining that as she had just finished exams “I wasn’t in the mindset to go on reality TV yet”.

Overall, she said: “It was unreal, I thought it wasn’t going to be full-on Irish speaking every day, but everyone was helping each other so much.

“Even the non-fluent speakers were helping the other non-fluent speakers, we were working together instead of trying to outdo each other.” 

‘Grá ar an Trá’ is available to watch back any time on Virgin Media Player.