DCU student David Atkinson entered RTÉ’s competition to find a reporter for The Voice of Ireland on a whim with just minutes to spare.
The Communications student, who was announced as the backstage online V-Reporter for The Voice of Ireland live shows last week, told The College View he applied for the competition on the advice of his mother.
“I was very hungover one morning and my mam said they were looking for a reporter, so I made a somewhat skeptical video and put it in at 11.55am, the deadline was 12pm. Then a couple of days later I got accepted.”
Atkinson was one of 500 original applicants that were narrowed down to 10, and eventually five, by RTÉ bosses and The Voice producers.
“That was all done within a matter of days, and when they got down to the last five they called us into RTÉ studios for a day of bootcamp,” Atkinson explained.
During bootcamp, the contestants had to carry out interviews with RTÉ stalwarts such as Rick O’ Shea and Ryan Tubridy, give a five-minute piece to camera and present on their favourite aspect of the show they would hopefully be working on.
The show will see Atkinson “keeping an eye on social media sites, chatting to the contestants and having the craic with them backstage, getting to know everyone a bit better. Eoghan McDermott will be the main presenter of the show, while I’m the one messing around backstage with everyone and reading all the Tweets that come in.”
He threw himself into the role as soon as he heard of his success, sending Tweets to the contestants and interacting with them online.
The Wexford student sees his new role as a “great opportunity” and hopes it will be a chance for him to show his creativity, not just to the viewing public, but also to those behind the scenes in RTÉ.
“I’d love to work with RTÉ on a long-term basis, so I’m very much in this for the long haul and I’d love to see something come out of this. But I’m seeing this as my motivation for now, and I’m very much committed to The Voice of Ireland.”
Aoife Bennett
Leave a Reply