Wayne McDonnell pictured with Kathryn Thomas of ‘Operation Transformation.’
There will be significant Mallow interest in ‘Operation Transformation’ when it airs on RTE Television in the coming months after local man Wayne O’ Donnell was selected as a leader on the show. Wayne was up a ladder at work in the Big Blue Cube at Gouldshill Community Centre last weekend, putting up the Christmas decorations, when show presenter Kathryn Thomas surprised him with the news. There were great cheers from his colleagues in the Big Blue Cube, and a delighted Wayne had barely enough time to take it all in before he was put on the phone to talk live on Radio One. Wayne told Ray that he broke his elbow playing soccer which required four surgeries to repair, and this led to him being out of work for over a year, which in turn led to him putting on a lot of weight, getting up to 19 stone a couple of weeks ago. Aged 29, Wayne has started a new job, and is hoping that Operation Transformation will give him a new life. “My girlfriend Jackie was worried about my health, more so than my weight, so that was why I kinda applied really, you know,” he said.
Wayne was down to a shortlist of 19 for assessment at the National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown on Monday November 20th and one of the tests was a 1 kilometre run.
Operation Transformation 2018 is due back on our screens in January and there will be some changes to the show. Personal trainer Karl Henry said, “There’s lots of change coming. We have 40% extra exercises, so 70 or 80 altogether, a new format and structure in terms of training style. We have a new Couch to 5k plan and there are going to be new challenges coming as well.”