Ireland’s Fittest Family kick starts New Year schedule for RTÉ in new slot  

Ireland’s Fittest Family airs on Sunday 3rd January 6.30 pm, RTÉ One

RTÉ has announced today, the return of Ireland’s Fittest Family Sunday 3rd January 2021 in its brand-new slot.

Previously Ireland’s Fittest Family featured in RTÉ’s autumn schedule, the show has moved to its new slot in Sunday in January, marking RTÉ’s latest shake-up to its schedule.

Mairead Ronan is back with Davy Fitzgerald, Anna Geary, Derval O’Rourke, and Donncha O’Callaghan to coach their families to victory.

RTÉ’s Head of Entertainment, John McHugh said: “Ireland’s Fittest Family has consistently been one of our most popular family shows for several seasons now. It is great to have it back on Sunday evenings.”

This series sees the other three coaches working hard to prevent Donncha O’Callaghan from winning a ‘two in a row’. Having only won once in the previous seven series and finishing second in the last two, Davy Fitzgerald is particularly fired up to make this his year.

All the coaches are as competitive as ever, in the new series, with the toughest families in the country taking on the most gruelling and physical challenges imaginable.

This year’s series of Ireland’s Fittest Family was filmed over the course of three weeks in our new hub at Hell & Back in Kilruddery, Co Wicklow. Set across acres of land at the foothills of the Wicklow mountains, this is the perfect location to put our families through their paces.

The competition commenced with 16 families in the first episode which is an hour and a half in duration and kicks off in ‘The Forest’.

Heats one to four takes place in ‘The Forest’ where four families in each episode battle it out for two places in the quarter-finals.

The two quarter-finals take place in ‘The Lake’ where each episode have four families battle it out for two places in the semi-finals.

The semi-final takes place in ‘The Swamp’ where six families battled it out for four places in the grand final.

All Covid-19 protocols were adhered to in the filming of the show. Ireland’s Fittest Family was filmed in August 2020. Families were in pods and coaches socially distanced from their families.