Manipulated and mistreated? Rose of Tralee CEO responds to claims

This year's Rose of Tralee was definitely one of the more talked about in recent years.

From the Sydney Rose's impassioned speech to the Fathers4Justice on-stage protest, Twitter was awash with Rose of Tralee mentions, and viewers tuned in in their millions to witness the crowning of the contest's 58th Rose.

And while it seems that this year's contest helped change people's stance of the long-running pageant, a recent Facebook post may do much to reverse public opinion.

Taking to social media, Down Rose, Fainche McCormack, who didn't make it to the live final, shone a light on aspects of the process to which viewers weren't privy, and it doesn't make for easy reading.

In a now deleted post, Fainche wrote: "The Rose of Tralee was honestly the most amazing experience of my life, until Sunday morning."

"I, and my fellow rose sisters, did not sign up for a cheap reality television show in which our emotions would be manipulated for entertainment purposes, nor did we sign up to be treated like animals in the circus and held in a room against our will."

"Cameras intrusively followed us all week and asked inappropriate probing questions; asking one girl what colour underwear she was wearing right before she went on stage, what's acceptable about that?" Fainche asked.

"I could go on for days about the many ways we were manipulated, bullied and mistreated; However, up until a certain point, the Rose of Tralee was the experience of a lifetime, every part of a little girl's dream," she continued.

Calling the organisers out on their disregard for contestants Fainche added: "It's just a shame that television viewing numbers became more important that the truly amazing girls that got hurt and that now have to deal with the emotional trauma of the whole, quite frankly disgusting and cruel, ordeal."

"None of us signed up for a cheat reality television show and now unfortunately the Rose of Tralee is an experience I will never forget, for all the wrong reasons." she finished in a post which has sent social media into overdrive this morning,

Acknowledging Fainche's concerns, CEO of the festival, Anthony O'Gara, suggested that her position in the contest may have acted as a catalyst for the post.

"We been running regional finals for the past 10 years and we always get strong reactions from the Roses that don't get through. We understand people are disappointed and this year wasn't any different."

And yet despite this, Mr. O'Gara accepted that issues had been raised about Sunday morning's filming, saying: "The manner in which the extra TV show, The Road to the Dome, was finished was insensitive and we didn't anticipate that."

"We wouldn't like to see it repeated and we apologised to the Roses and they accepted that." he insisted.