An Cosantóir

www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 17 www.military.ie THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE | 17 The calm before the storm. The Candidates learn the leopard crawl. Keep the weapons at a 45-degree angle. Hell Week's finalist. Robert Stafford. it takes to become an ARW SOF Operator. Most DF members would have undertaken similar challenges in their career and I hope that the show's success will raise public awareness of the commitment and training that is required of DF members." We then met up with Hell Week's finalists, #18 Mark Cushen a member of An Garda Síochána explained how they had no inter- action with the film crews and that was a rule from the outset, "in-doors the cameras were fixed to locations so they were not in your face." #11 John Kenny Firefighter/Paramedic added, "It's as real as they could make it – I reckon I got a total of 15hrs sleep throughout the week!" His Firefighter/Paramedic colleague #16 Ray Kenny added, "We had no watches or clocks to know exactly what time of day or night it was – only the orderly sergeant had one to use so we knew what time to be outside at - it wasn't synchronised to real time." #14 Grace O'Rourke explained, "All the candidates were very physi- cally fit going in." They explained about also doing a night sentry duty in helmet and weapon 'bar' on the billet door, which was divided amongst the candidates - who were dropping out daily. They only had two sets of clothing, "we copped on quick to number our kit, and grab something dry for the next task!" one of them quipped. Ray added, "our boots were never dry, that's why we wore flipflops in the billet," he then told a great story of his missing flipflop in the snow from the first evening. We chatted about the great comradery and friendships that has built up amongst them after this challenging experience. They ex- plained they had never met before the show, except to go through the interview and fitness test process where they crossed paths. John said he knew of Ray but they weren't friends then. Around 350 applied for the show with approx. 60 selected for the fitness tests, before the final 24 had a meeting with the producers and received their briefing and kit list, and they were allowed to break-in their boots before the show started. John said it was very easy to get sucked into the whole atmo- sphere of being in a training camp, the not knowing what was coming next kept them on their edge, "you just have to go in and give it 100%," he said. Discussing the tasks, Ray and Grace both said the bridge jump, not because of the height, it was the waiting in the freezing cold, "they said it would be warmer in the water, and they were right - I had grown men either side of me shivering, we were all encouraging each other," she added. Mark added, "I had a bit of luck on the HUET task, I just made it out." They all agreed one of the best moments was when #4 Des Seepersad came back into the billet soaking wet and went to the bathroom to get showered and changed without saying what happened. The candidates tried to look at each other and try figure out what the task was. The DS had him crawl through the pipe with water rushing through which made for some excellent TV, and gave us some great 'one liners' - "Get out of my pipe". It was also the catalyst for some candidates as their fear of enclosed spaces got the better of them. Another great moment was when John tried to escape during the escape and evasion phase, while every- one else was doing jumping jacks to stay warm. Asked if they appreciate military training? Ray said, "We all have a more positive view on the Defence Forces and the Army Ranger Wing." Grace added, "I completed the An Gaisce Defence Forces Challenge 14-years ago. It was a really great experience and I had my heart set on a career in the Defence Forces. I applied three different times for a cadetship, but unfortunately it wasn't to be." While it was back to their jobs for the lads, Grace has used the experience to set up her new business www.graceorourke.com, where she offers personal performance programmes. Congratulations and admiration to Des and Grace for passing Hell Week's selection course. After the final episode aired Des wrote on his Twitter account, "An honour to take part in and com- plete the ultimate test to find the ultimate civilian… delighted to be named the biggest legend along with Grace." Grace recently told Evoke Magazine about her experience, "Tak- ing part in Hell Week was one of the most difficult and challenging things I've ever done, but it taught me so much about myself and has been an invaluable and truly life-changing experience." A few final words from Hell Week's producer Jamie, "The show went down well with audiences, rating really well, with approx. 18% consolidated share, about 200,000 viewers per episode - which is really really strong. In terms of season 2, there has been some preliminary discussions with RTÉ, but these are at a very early stage. The view would be that it's only worth going again if we feel we can improve it. Lastly, to the 24 crazy recruits who took on the Hell Week chal- lenge. All legends. All mental. All heroes. I hope all of them can look back on their time up the mountains and laugh about how mad it was, but feel very proud of themselves!"

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