Traitors Ireland star on being a national treasure, his new role in a series of online shows and his big showbiz offers
Then along came Troy Parrott, the new golden boy and pin-up sensation of Irish soccer, and ‘The Paudfather’ was swiftly knocked off his perch.
“Troy is way more worthy of it than I am, I can tell you that,” Paudie laughs as he chats with the Sunday World this week by Zoom from his Limerick home.
“My God, that was some game on Sunday! It was brilliant. I couldn’t believe it. I thought I’d be watching Ireland’s demise, to be honest.”
Paudie is talking as we discuss his new cameo role in Centra Deli Drama, an online series of two-minute soap-opera-inspired episodes starring Jennifer Zamparelli and Cheryl Fergison from EastEnders.
Paudie is loving life after The Traitors
Filmed in Centra’s Drumcondra store in Dublin, it also features Centra deli staff among the star-studded cast.
“I was delighted to be asked and delighted to do it,” Paudie says. “And I was delighted to meet Jennifer, she is absolutely salt of the earth and great craic.”
Retired prison officer Moloney emerged from The Traitors Ireland “a national treasure” and there were even suggestions he should run for President of Ireland.
“I don’t know who started that one but it gave me a good laugh,” Paudie says. “It was pretty brutal for the candidates, but I will say this, I’d have nothing to hide. But I would have no interest in it.”
Paudie stars with Cheryl Fergison and Jennifer Zamparelli in a new series of two-minute online shows for Centra
News in 90 Seconds – Sunday, November 23
As for his overnight fame, Paudie reflects: “It [celebrity] was not my life and while it has entered into my life now, although I would describe it as being well-known rather than famous, it’s not going to define my life.
Fade away
“At 68 years of age it’s the last thing I expected, but I’m going to fade away into the background. Troy Parrott is the flavour of the month now and next month there will be somebody else and I’ll be gone back to number three or four or five or six. And I’m happy enough to fade away, to be honest.
“But I was genuinely myself in the show. And I’m delighted to hear it [being described as a national treasure] and I’m thrilled that people see me that way, but I am really somebody just down the road.
“I didn’t go in with airs or graces or playing a part. I know I was keeping secrets, but I was just myself in all aspects of it.”
As a prison officer you probably dealt with a few characters who appeared in the Sunday World through the years? “I met a few without a doubt,” Paudie laughs.
Was the prison service good training for The Traitors? “I don’t know if that’s the case or not, but I think it definitely helped. It definitely helped me to be more aware of what was going on around me,” he says.
Paudie had said he went into the show with the mindset of ‘stay low, don’t get involved, stay out of the way’.
That sounds like something you would tell somebody in prison? “Yeah, yeah, if somebody asked you for advice going in to prison you’d say, ‘look, keep to yourself and stay out of trouble’,” he nods.
“I tried to do that in The Traitors for the first few days. I said I’d keep a low profile if I survive two or three days, and then I’ll come forward a small bit and make myself known. But it kind of happened a little faster than that because I was hunted at the table, so I had to go into survival mode.”
Paudie’s son, Andrew, was also in The Traitors, and he considers himself fortunate to have a great family life.
None of his adult children has emigrated to faraway places like Australia. “No, they haven’t, which is brilliant. The furthest away they’ve gone is Cork,” Paudie says.
“But unfortunately I have grandkids that are going to be Cork hurlers and things like that.
Paudie is loving life after The Traitors
“But I’ll put up with that. I make sure when Limerick are playing that they put out the green and white flags in the Cork houses. Sometimes it’s a struggle,” he laughs.
Appearances
The offers of TV and stage shows have rolled in since he won the hearts of the nation, including appearances on Gogglebox and an upcoming role as the Wizard in Dublin’s 3Olympia panto, Olly Goes To Oz.
So what’s next, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!? “I know I would never be asked but I will say this, I would 100 per cent do that,” Paudie says.
“I’d eat, I’d drink anything they put in front of me. I’d jump out of a helicopter…It’s only your own head that will hold you back.”
And he adds: “I’ll do anything once. What’s the worst that can happen? If it doesn’t work out, so what? I’m too old to care.”
See the Centra drama on @Centra_Irl (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube).