Ireland’s Fittest Family recorded its "highest viewers ever" after over half a million people tuned in to watch the grand finale.
After eight weeks of blood, sweat, tears and plenty of entertainment, the Mahoney family from Co Wexford were crowned the winners.
And it seems a lot of eyes were on the team made up of mum Joanne, 53, and her three sons, Kevin, 23, Alan, 17, and Conor, 19, as they bagged the title on Sunday evening.
An RTE spokesperson said: “[The] finale of Ireland’s Fittest Family was watched by 575,600 viewers and scored 43% share of the audience.
“This is the highest ever rating recorded in the history of the programme.
“A further 16,600 has so far watched tuned in to the finale on RTÉ Player between yesterday and today.
“This proved to be popular among the 15-34 age category with 47.4% share.”
The record ratings come after the fitness show was transferred to a new prime time viewing slot on Sunday nights, in place of Dancing with the Stars, which had to be halted this year due to the pandemic.
And the Mahoneys and RTE weren’t the only people celebrating their wins yesterday, as coach Davy Fitzgerald opened up about his own pride of coming out on top.
“There were three years I got to the final two and I was pipped by the narrowest of margins,” he told Ray D’Arcy on his RTE Radio 1 show.
“You have to stay with it and keep coming back and it’s that feeling incredible when you get it.”
Crediting his winning team, he added: “They are a family that would never, never give in to anything.
“The spirit they have and how they care about each other is just incredible and that was one the reasons that I would have picked them at the start.”
Joanne said the feeling was mutual, saying: “From the very start there was no question of what coach we wanted. Definitely he[Davy] was the one for us.”
