A teenager who died just days before he was due to appear on Ireland’s Fittest Family will feature in the new series.
In October, the RTE show was pulled following the tragic death of 15-year-old Cillian Flaherty. Cillian, from Whitestown, North Co Dublin, died suddenly at his home suddenly on October 21.
The series had been postponed but the family has given their blessing for the late teenager’s involvement to be aired. This Saturday’s episode will show the determined young man taking on tough challenges alongside his loving family.
The Flaherty family will take on the McLoughlin family from Laois, the Fagan family from Wicklow and the Adamowicz family from Cork. The lifestyle programme, presented by Laura Fox, is back for its 12th season on RTE One.
Coaches Davy Fitzgerald, Anna Geary, Donncha O’Callaghan and Sonia O’Sullivan are also back and looking to bring home the title this year. Cillian’s brother Kian, who will also appear on the episode as part of the team, shared photos on Instagram of their time together on the show.
Donning their pink team jerseys, he captioned the snaps: “Ireland’s fittest family airs this Saturday we hope everyone enjoys, memories last forever.” His family had previously expressed gratitude to the Ireland’s Fittest Family team for postponing the show.
They said: “He was so looking forward to watching it when it came out and obviously this happened. Obviously, the show is going to be out, we’re still going to watch it.”
At his funeral Mass in October, Kian described his younger brother as his best friend. Holding back tears at the Church of St Philip the Apostle, he said: “We were the best of friends. No matter how many fights we had, we just forgot about them and got on with life 10 minutes later.
“I’m going to miss coming home from work and asking you what the poa is. For anyone doesn’t know poa; it’s the plan of action… and all he used to say is, “I’ll just go with the flow, bro’.
“I love you, kid. Rest in paradise and look after us all. It’s not a goodbye, it’s a see you later.”
Cillian was a third-year student at Blakestown Community School in West Dublin and was said to be a promising footballer.
The funeral Mass heard that Cillian, affectionately known as “Cillo”, had great ambitions and “could have been anything”.
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