TV: Ex-taoiseach and Cork singer team up on new show
Cork singer Lyra and Leo Varadkar in Unchartered With Ray Goggins
That is what the makers of the new series will be hoping when it starts a four-part run on RTÉ1 on Wednesday at 9.35pm.
Each week, Ray challenges a new well-known pairing with a physically and mentally demanding adventure, designed to push each participant to their limits.
In episode one, former taoiseach Leo Varadkar teams up with singer Lyra, from Bandon.
Special Forces veteran Ray Goggins pushes the unlikely duo to their limits through the wild untamed mountains of Drakensberg in South Africa.
The pair and Goggins sleep in caves, scale huge peaks, and climb sheer rock faces as they make their way to the top of one of the tallest waterfalls on the planet, Tugela Falls.
No stranger to scaling political heights, how will Leo, who resigned as taoiseach and stood down from politics last year, fare when faced with a death-defying vertical climb to the top of the Drakensberg Escarpment?
And will Lyra, who has sung to thousands at concerts such as Live at the Marquee in her native Cork, get stage-fright when faced with some of the challenges?
In the series, adventurer Ray takes well-known Irish faces from the worlds of politics, music and sport on extreme outdoor expeditions through some of the most remote and treacherous environments on Earth.
In the process, he pushes each participant far beyond their comfort zone in the ultimate test of survival and resilience.
As they face the wild together, the experience becomes more than just an adrenaline rush — it’s a deeply emotional journey. Bonds are forged, stories shared, and vulnerabilities surface, as Ray guides participants through a transformative wilderness challenge.
Goggins grew up in Cork and ed the army in 1990 where, for a decade, he was part of an infantry battalion in Cork.
He served in the Irish Army in total for 26 years, including 17 years in the Army Ranger Wing as an operator and leader in a Tier 1 Special Operations Unit. He is also chief instructor on RTÉ’s .
Also a best-selling author, Goggins spent two-and-a-half years in Afghanistan working for a private security company.
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