'Politicians and pornstars' - Limerick's Natasha O'Brien spills the tea on filming 'Dinner with The Enemy'

Limerick activist Natasha O'Brien has revealed what filming Virgin Media's 'Dinner with the Enemy' was like. 

The TV show sees a group of 10 people from all different backgrounds and opinions come together to have conversations on a range of different topics. 

This season, season three, is different to the previous two in that originally there were only two people engaging in conversation. 

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Natasha feels as though having 10 people allows for a better representation of Ireland's society. 

"You wouldn't have the influencers ever meeting farmers. It's kind of like putting them all at the table together, you know, politicians and porn stars and so it's really interesting," she said. 

The topics that pop up on the iPad to be discussed prompt the conversations, something Natasha said was really important to happen in person. 

"The idea is to have those conversations in person, like those online conversations. That bickering, to have it in person, to sit at a table with someone that you might fight with in a Facebook comment or a Tiktok comment," she said. 

"I personally thought I can't respect someone that doesn't have good morals but I suppose it was really challenging for me to try to listen to those people," she added.

In the end, Natasha realised that although she may not agree with everyone's opinions, she was able to understand where they were coming from. 

This is something that you would not necessarily get from having these conversations online.

"I kind of walked away having respect for 90% of the table. There was a 10% of that table that I never, ever want to be in the same room as ever again," Natasha said. 

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With 10 people sat at a table to discuss a wide range of topics, it's easy to imagine that things could get quite tense. 

Natasha said that the 10 people had "big personalities" and it could get heated at times.

"It got really heated. It got nasty sometimes but most people at that table did come with an open mind. They wanted to hear from their enemy. They wanted to try to understand their enemy and why they have such different views," she said. 

She believes that this kind of TV show can be really beneficial in terms of helping people understand that not everyone is going to agree with each other, but it's about how opinions and ideas are communicated that really matters. 

"At the end of the day, we all have to live together in this world, in this country. So while we may not all agree with each other, we do all have to live with each other. I think especially in the online world we are becoming more and more solitary and isolated," Natasha said.

"This is kind of pushing us to have those discussions with people that you would probably never sit down with, but they do still share the same planet as you do. They do share the same country as you they're all around us and so trying to understand people that are different to you, it's really important that we try to understand each other," she added.

Natasha highlighted how it is easy to leave a comment online but when you are sat looking at another human you can be kinder in how you deliver what you want to say.

"I do think that certain people definitely wouldn't be as abrupt in person as they maybe would be online. I think it's so easy to just be callous and cruel and cutting online and be really impulsive," she said. 

"We do all have the ability to communicate with respect, even if there's we don't agree. I think that's very important as well," Natasha added. 

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When asked about whether she has heard anything extremely shocking while filming the show, Natasha said there was one incident that blew her mind. 

It happened when everyone had to pick one person to vote off the show and someone chose her. 

"Their reason for voting me off was that they said they didn't like how the media portrayed me as someone that hates men. So that was insane. That blew my mind. The whole table, all our jaws were like on the floor. I was like, do I look like the media? Do I look like I'm this big media giant up in the sky controlling everyone?" Natasha said.

She added that had that person attended any of her protests, listened to interviews she had done, or read any articles she had written, they would see that is not the case.

"I cannot control how I'm distorted in a headline. It was ridiculous. I was like, 'Are you for real?'," Natasha concluded.

Three episodes of 'Dinner with the Enemy' have aired so far. 

They are released every Monday on Virgin Media at 9pm.