COILL DUBH, 23 August: by Trish Whelan. While Rathangan celebrates Brian Dowling’s ‘Big Brother’ win, the village of Coill Dubh is coming to terms with its new star, 27-year-old James Kenna.
James was part of the victorious ‘Stars without Stripes’ team in the Budweiser True States Challenge which involved the final contestants flying off to five of the US’s most exciting cities to take part in a two-week scavenger hunt. These included New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami and San Francisco.
It also ensured him slots on the Jerry Springer Show and on TV3’s Ireland AM. James, who describes himself as ‘shy’, now has to contend with his new found fame and with being a TV star.
He is employed at Masterplast in Naas Industrial Estate.
“It was the trip of a lifetime and I’m glad I did it,” said James whose sons Jamie (11) and Shane (9) now think their Dad ‘cool’. Wife, Geraldine, also supported him all the way.
“All that travelling was the hardest part,” he told The Kildare Nationalist. “It meant 14 flights over two weeks, so jet lag was a huge problem.”
In each city the teams were given a number of challenges and had to solve cryptic clues, gathering points along the way in the two-week scavenger hunt.
In addition to the points for successfully completing challenges, a further 3,000 bonus points were allocated on the last day of the competition to the team to receive the most votes on the www.budwesier.ie website.
Stars without Stripes (which also included three other contestants from Drogheda and Tallaght) racked up a huge 96,000 points, trouncing their nearest rivals by over 30,000 points.
Challenges, which were handed out just one hour before the teams landed in each city, included having to be knee deep in a crocodile swamp with leeches, and spiders all around; windsurfing in shark infested waters; dressing up in drag; and getting an eyebrow pierced, which James says was the sorest of all the tasks.
Other tasks involved boating on the Mississippi, a visit to Alcatraz, canoeing down whitewater rapids in Miami and multiple plunges into the below freezing waters of its Russian Baths!
As well as having to sleep rough on a beach on the last night because they missed the flight home.
It had all started in July when teams from 250 pubs and a nation-wide off licence promotion were asked to send in a three-minute screen test, explaining why their team should take part.
When asked why he had entered, James said: “They wanted to know where the car race was held in the Tom Cruise movie: Days of Thunder and I knew the answer!”
Each of the five teams was accompanied every step of the way by a camera crew and the Challenge is to be made into a documentary to be shown on TV3 in the Autumn.
As his prize James was given a Budweiser fridge and a year’s supply of Bud.
©2001/knn