Bunclody’s Eilish Kavanagh received harsh words from Dr. Ciara Kelly on Operation Transformation on Wednesday
THE CHAIRPERSON of Enniscorthy Municipal District has blasted RTE show ‘Operation Transformation’ for “caring more about its ratings than the welfare of its contestants”.
Cllr. Barbara Anne Murphy told The Echo that she was appalled at the treatment of fellow Bunclody woman and leader on the weight loss programme, Eilish Kavanagh, who was accused of “getting drunk on TV” on Wednesday night’s show.
Footage earlier in the broadcast showed Eilish enjoying a day out at the races with some friends and indulging in a break from her routine by enjoying a few drinks.
Eilish, who runs a café in Bunclody called TLC, revealed to the cameras that she planned to use up her week’s alcohol limit of 11 units in the day.
She lost 1lb over the course of the week – half of the target set for her by the panel – and received a harsh dressing down at her explosive weigh-in that left viewers shocked.
“This week was an abomination,” Dr. Ciara Kelly fumed. “I was embarrassed for you and I was disgusted to see you. You let the programme down, you let your followers down and with respect to you Eilish, you let yourself down.”
Dr. Kelly continued: “Operation Transformation is about getting the country healthy and one of our five leaders went out this week and got drunk on TV.”
Dr Ciara Kelly has stood by her comments
Eilish replied that she wasn’t drunk, but Dr Kelly interjected, saying: “It’s what it looked like and I’m disgusted because there are people around the country following you.
“There are young people watching this show, there are kids watching this show and I thought that was appalling.”
When Eilish said she had done her best but that her actions were probably wrong, Dr Ciara said: “Why come on this programme, why take up a place and do that? I can’t fathom it.”
Eilish defended her actions saying, “I looked up everything on the internet, my food was perfect for the day, I did my exercises,” but said in hindsight her race day was probably not a good idea.
She added: “I made a mistake, I had a few drinks I had a good day. That’s life.”
Despite the row, Eilish has lost 8.5lbs to date. She now weighs 12 stone 7.5lbs compared to her starting weight of 13 stone 2lbs.
When contacted by The Echo, Eilish did not wish to comment, but Cllr. Murphy, who has been actively involved in supporting the local café owner, said she thought she was “treated very badly.”
“It was very harsh,” she said. “I thought that Dr. Kelly was very self-righteous and sanctimonious. When you’re so perfect it’s easy to judge! Those less perfect are more forgiving. It’s not about the contestant’s welfare on the show; it’s all about getting the ratings in.”
Full story in this week’s Echo.
