Some BIG changes have been announced for the Rose of Tralee

The Rose of Tralee may be a festival steeped in longstanding tradition, but it seems the iconic Irish pageant is receiving a bit of a facelift this year. 

Dedicated viewers will be pleased the hear that the traditionally five day festival has been expanded into a seven day festival. 

Therefore, there will be three televised nights instead of two.

Hurrah! 

Traditionally, the selection process to whittle down potential Roses from the 68 selection centres to the final 32 took place in Portlaoise in May. 

However, in this new extended format, RTÉ will broadcast a documentary featuring all 68 selected roses and reveal who has made it to the live final on the Sunday before the usual televised shows.

This means that all 68 roses will travel to Tralee in August and the documentary will chart their journey to the festival. 

Speaking on the Nicky Byrne Show today, Dáithí Ó Sé commented on the popularity of the festival despite always getting slagged off. 

"People have been knocking it for a long time but now everybody’s watching it."

"The social media part of it is unbelievable, we had two people in charge of social media last year for the first time ever,” he explained."

“They had Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, the whole thing and it was absolutely unbelievable.

Meanwhile reigning rose, Elysha Brennan has been doing her duty travelling the length and breadth of the country encouraging women to take part. 

"It is a testament to how big and successful the festival is that RTÉ is putting on an extra night,” said the winning Meath Rose. 

"What other show in Ireland gets three nights on RTÉ?"

The first televised night of the festival is due to air on Sunday 21 August.