Total Xposure

''Total Xposure'' is a seven-week reality television show broadcast by TV3 in Ireland It involved a nationwide search to find a new presenter for the channel's prime time entertainment magazine programme ''Xposé''. ''Total Xposure'' consisted of a group of ten contestants chosen specifically for the show, most of whom had no prior presenting experience —they did however receive a quick course in presentational technique prior to the competition's commencement. The prize was a six-month contract as presenter of TV3's entertainment news show ''Xpose''.

The winner of ''Total Xposure'' was Sean Munsanje, a 28-year-old contestant from Dublin. A public vote saw him beat Simon Atkins and Ruth O'Neill in the final on 11 August 2009. Munsanje thus became the first ever non-female presenter of ''Xpose''. On 5 July 2010 it was announced that Sean Munsanje would be leaving ''Xpose'' at the end of August, a year after he won the reality TV competition ''Total Xposure''.

Background

''Total Xposure'' came about when original host of ''Xposé'', Lorraine Keane, quit the post in early 2009 in the hope of spending more time with her family. Keane, on holiday in France, was said to not have watched the final but was aware of the show and the identity of the winner.

Judges

The three judges were Michael O'Doherty, Emma Ledden and Gerry Lundberg. Each received expenses of a figure in the range of €5,000–€10,000 for participating the show. O'Doherty claimed: "We didn't do it for the money, we did it for fun".

Contestants

Twenty contestants were selected from among 1,000 applicants. In the first week they were whittled down to ten: five men and five women. The ten finalists, in alphabetical order, were Simon Atkins, Niamh Buffini, Sharon Clancy, Michael Coughlan, Michelle Forde, Anthony Kelly, Stuart McQuitty, Daniella Moyles, Sean Munsanje and Ruth O'Neill. They were unveiled at the Krystle nightclub in Dublin on 30 June 2009.

Winner: Sean Munsanje
Runner-up: Simon Atkins
2nd Runner-up: Ruth O'Neill
4: Anthony Kelly
5: Stuart McQuitty
6: Daniella Moyles

Results Summary

Episode list

Episode 1 (30 June): Twenty contestants were given the task of reading from an autoque. The judges selected ten to continue with the competition.

Episode 2 (7 July): The contestants had to do a vox pop to camera.

Episode 3 (14 July): The contestants were judged on their style for a photo shot for a magazine, they also have to ad-lib a report from a prop.

Episode 4 (21 July): The contestants were brought to a VIP birthday bash and they have to interview VIPs on the red carpet.

Episode 5 (28 July): The contestants had to research a news item and do a report in front of the judges. Daniella Moyles was voted off the show this week, with Anthony Kelly surviving the public vote. Moyles had been criticised by the judges for "staying within her comfort zone". She had conducted an interview with Miss Universe Ireland, Diana Donnelly. Moyles was widely known on the social circuit in Kildare.

Episode 6 (4 August): The contestants went to the Galway Races where they were split into two groups.

Episode 7 (11 August): The contestants presented an Xposé news report.

Results

Sean Munsanje was declared the new host of ''Xposé'' live on television after the final results show on 11 August 2009. He received a prize of a six-month contract worth €20,000 and was welcomed by his fellow ''Xposé'' presenters afterwards. Producer Debbie O'Donnell later spoke of her delight to have a male working on ''Xpose''. Munsanje was soon being approached by strangers and offered free items of clothing.

Munsanje had been the "hot favourite" to win the show, with one bookmaker paying out early to those who had gambled on him. Ruth O'Neill had been second favourite to win. The remaining finalist, Simon Atkins, from Castlebar, County Mayo, received public support from music manager and '' The X Factor'' judge Louis Walsh, who is from Kiltimagh, County Mayo, before the final. All the presenters, contestants, judges and crew, bar presenter Lisa Cannon who had work commitments, celebrated at a party afterwards. The following day, the finalists made radio and television appearances on breakfast show '' Ireland AM'' and Today FM morning programme ''The Ray D'Arcy Show''.

Reception

The '' Sunday Independent'', writing with one episode remaining, said the show had "fallen decidedly flat", having "promised so much fluffiness and friction" and berated the judges, O'Doherty for "taking to the floor and consuming as much, if not more, airtime than the contestants", Ledden because she "looks and acts matronly" and Lundberg who "has been totally redundant, proffering little to the programme other than an odd grunt".
Pat Stacey, writing in the '' Evening Herald'', declared that the show was not "a case of a dead horse being sliced open and its entrails cynically strung out like garland in order to fill the crater-like creativity gaps in the summer schedule" but "a cunning post-modernist television masterpiece". Radio presenter Siobhan O'Connor said the show "makes for hysterical viewing"

References

{{Reflist

2009 Irish television series debuts
Irish reality television series