From Slane Castle to the cradle: Limerick man swaps Traitors drama for fatherhood

LIMERICK man and Traitors Ireland star Andrew Moloney’s time at Slane Castle may have ended in banishment, but he has his sights set on a far bigger role: fatherhood.

Andrew discovered just weeks before filming that he and his wife Aisling are expecting their first child.

He became the latest player to be banished from Slane Castle on last night's episode following a recruitment to become a Traitor by his dad Paudie.

The Kilmallock native can't wait to become a Dad and said it will be a "whole new way of life." Andrew's wife Aisling is due a baby on October 20.

READ MORE: 'You blackmailed your own son' - One Limerick man exposed in bombshell exit from The Traitors

"It'll be a nice thing to have, especially after the traders, because it's going to be such a come down. To come down from all the positivity and hype to just more positivity and more hype about something that's just very special, I just can't wait."

Andrew currently lives in Douglas and he married his long-term partner, Aisling, in Cork last November. The Kilmallock man has been based in Cork for the past four years and he works as an assistant principal officer within the HR unit in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.

Andrew said he was "so excited" to take part in the show and that he'd watched the UK and New Zealand versions previously.

"I applied for it just because I love the strategy behind it... I love the fact that it can go any way and it's actually incredibly difficult to win and I'm probably one of these people who looks at it on the television and says, sure, I could do that easily. But by God, was I humbled really quickly inside there." He added that he just wanted "to play the game to the fullest extent and just experience all of it."

Andrew said the competition was very intense. "There's no point in lying. It was very intense. It was real immersion into the game."

He explained: "You're in there in the environment of trying to figure out who the traitors were, from a faithful perspective and then you're just constantly in your head, and you're very worried about not slipping up in terms of what you say to others to make you look guilty or to make you look like a traitor." Andrew said the only aspect of the Traitors game that he didn't get to experience was to murder someone.

He goes home to Kilmallock every month or so and said he was home last weekend for a few drinks. "We went out for drinks in Kilmallock on Saturday and by God, there was an awful positive reaction. We couldn't get over how positive all of it was." Andrew said that locals told him he did Kilmallock and Limerick proud.

Paudie is the grandfather while Andrew is the uncle of star Limerick and Kilmallock hurler Shane O’Brien. Andrew said he follows the Limerick hurlers and he played the sport himself until he was 18 years old but that soccer was always his sport. "I played a lot of soccer when I was younger. I played with Holy Cross, Kilmallock, Granville and Fairview."

Speaking about how he and his Dad, Paudie, both were cast on The Traitors Ireland, Andrew said: "I asked them (producers) if they knew that my dad and I were related and would you believe I said I had a nephew on the Limerick hurling team and he said he had a grandchild on the Limerick hurling team and they put two and two together."

He also revealed that he's heard on some podcasts that this is the first time on any English speaking iteration of the show that two players in the conclave have had a relationship (father and son) outside of the game.

Andrew was disappointed to be banished from the castle, saying that it was a bit of a double-edged sword. "I think when you look back and see all the conversations, the way people were talking about me that I didn't know were happening, you understand that, okay, your time is up anyway. Your cards are marked, whether it's today, tomorrow, or the day after. You're not winning this game."

One of Andrew's favourite missions he took part in on the show was when the contestants had to find 200 golden bars that were buried in the ground to win €4,000 for the prize pot. "I loved the mission with the gold bars and digging and running through the river. That was good fun and just trying to throw the bars to each other."

Another highlight of Andrew's experience on The Traitors Ireland was doing it with his father. "I just think doing it with my Dad as well and like even being made a traitor and going into the concave, like that's definitely a highlight for me. I went in there with my Dad and having a strategic conversation about the game was good fun."

Andrew attended primary and secondary school in Kilmallock and also went to college locally. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Sociology and a Master's in Economic Analysis, both from the University of Limerick. 

The Traitors Ireland continues every Sunday at 9:30pm, Monday and Tuesday at 9:35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, followed directly by The Traitors Ireland: Uncloaked which is filmed in Limerick.