Galway’s Loman Jinks, searches for love on ‘Grá ar an Trá’

By Aoibhé Hopkins

It seems like everyone in Ireland has been talking about the new Irish dating show ‘Gra ar an Trá’ that debuted last Monday, 25 September at 21:00 on Virgin Media One. The theme of the show is for singletons to ‘learn Irish, find love and compete to be crowned the top couple.’ The pair crowned the top couple at the end of the series will win a cash prize of €10,000.

The show consists of ten contestants, two of whom hail from Galway. Viewers were introduced to the first of the two Galway contestants, Loman Jinks, on last week’s debut episode. The crew here at Galway Pulse had a chat with Loman to find out a little bit more about himself and how he got involved with the show.

What was it like growing up in Galway?

Loman grew up in the Galway countryside, just outside Claregalway. When asked about his experience he said ‘‘I enjoyed growing up in Galway and I enjoyed growing up in the countryside as well, I’d be a country lad. Growing up in Galway was grand, ordinary aul’ craic, playing football and playing hurling all that sort of craic.’’

What made you want to get involved with the show?

“Well it started off as a joke, I was having a few drinks with my sister at the kitchen table and she saw the application form for it and she sent it on to me. I filled out the form as a joke, I got a phone call a week later when I was on a construction site and I suppose it went from there.”

How did you feel when you got the call?

“I was fairly surprised, they said I got through to round one of the auditions. I was surprised but I thought it was funny. I kept getting callbacks for more auditions and it just got funnier as it went on.”

How were you feeling in the lead-up to the show?

“I only found out I was going on the show, probably three or four weeks beforehand and I was nervous but excited.”

Ideal date spot in Galway?

“I’d bring them go-karting because I worked there for years and it’s great craic.”

How did you feel about having to speak ‘as Gaeilge’?

“I Thought it was funny because I have very little Irish and I thought I’d figure it out fairly handy. I’d throw my hand at anything, I’d be that sort of person.”

Do you have any dating advice?

“Spend more time talking about the other person than talking about yourself,’’ said Loman.

If you won the prize money what would be the first thing you’d buy?

”If I got the money I’d buy a car transporter or a Steeltech shed.”

Grá ar an Trá will return to screens Mondays at 21:00 on Virgin Media One. You can watch back on the Virgin Media Player.