Thomas to be ‘Expert escort’ for Rose of Tralee Festival

Killucan man Thomas Callaghan had no problem persuading his bosses to allow him take a week of annual leave slap bang in the middle of August: that’s because Thomas has been selected as one of the 32 escorts for this year’s Rose of Tralee competition.

Thomas, 25, works as a salesman with Expert Electrical in Mullingar – and not alone did the firm welcome his selection as a Rose escort, but they are actually sponsoring his participation in the event.

Being chosen as a Rose escort represented a dream come through for Thomas, he said this week: “It’s always been a goal of mine: I always wanted to do it, and throughout the years, we always watched it at home,” he said.

On top of that, he had some insider information on what a great experience being an escort represents, as his uncle, Stephen Callaghan, from Ballinea, was an escort some years ago.

The selection process for escorts for the Rose of Tralee involves a rigorous application and interview process. The interviews were held over the May bank holiday weekend at Barberstown Castle, and within a couple of days, Thomas learned he had been selected.

The next step along the road to the festival was the escorts’ bootcamp, which took place in Tralee a fortnight ago.

“That was to kind of put us through our paces, so we were on Banna Beach; we were going through obstacle courses – running around jumping into the water,” Thomas explains.

“We were also in Tralee Fire Station, and they also put us through our paces as well: they had fire drills set up.”

Then came the real hard stuff: walking on broken glass – and walking on Lego!

Along with that, the escorts did a lot of media work: “There’s a lot of videos and Tiktoks and Instagram videos of what we were doing.”

Thomas loved the whole experience: “It was great to get to know all the rest of lads as well. There were 31 others there with me from all different walks of life and from all over the country and abroad as well. There’s two boys from Chicago, one from Vancouver and then one from London, so it was really an international affair and it’s nice to know the lads before the Roses come down, so we’ll be ready and we’ll be all well drilled.”

The escorts don’t meet the Roses until the festival starts, and it is also only at that point that they are told who they are paired with.

“I’m really looking forward to it; so many Roses from so many walks of life as well and so many fun stories – it’s going to be a great experience to get to know them all and I’m sure we’ll have friends for life and memories for life after it as well,” says Thomas.

The son of Lorraine and Patrick Wallace, and brother of Leah and Luke Wallace, Thomas is a big country music fan and he has long been big into line dancing – another skill taught to the escorts at bootcamp.

The next big get together for the escorts before the festival is in Athlone, where sponsor Benetti Menswear fits them all for the tuxedos they will need for the festival.

Thomas hasn’t met Rachel Duffy, the young Westmeath woman who won the overall Rose title in 2022, but like the rest of Westmeath, he was proud to see her take the title: “She would have been an inspiration to me, and it was fantastic to see her success.”