McDermott family to feature on RTE’s ‘Raised By The Village’

But this time, the entire McDermott family have opened their home up to RTE crews for an appearance in ‘Raised by the Village’.

The reality series sees city teenagers moving out to the Irish countryside to get a good healthy dose of rural life.

This Sunday, October 13, viewers of ‘Raised By The Village’ will see 14-year-old Dublin girl Amber leaving her social-media obsessed world to visit Moville and stay with Brian, his wife Brenda and their teenage daughters Niamh and Aoife.

The programme makers said Amber’s social media obsession was causing her serious problems. She could spend up to 18 hours a day on her phone, scrolling through Instagram and comparing herself to online images of perfection.

Amber’s mum was worried about seeing her once bubbly daughter become sullen and withdrawn, so she decided to send her to the village to hopefully learn how to reconnect with her true self.

The McDermotts welcomed Amber with open arms when the episode was filmed in June.

She spent a busy, phone-free week with the family enjoying the great Donegal seaside and getting hands-on in the Foyle Hotel kitchen.

Niamh and Aoife know all about the value of part-time jobs and spend their summers working in all aspects of the family hotel.

In the show, Amber joins the girls at work to get an eye-opening experience of hospitality, cooking and of life without a phone.

Looking ahead to the programme air date, Brian McDermott said it was a great experience for his family to host Amber and take part in the show.

“It was a heart-warming experience and it benefitted us and Amber. She left us happy and said it really changed her,” he said.

You can watch ‘Raised By the Village’ on RTE One this Sunday, October 13 at 6.30pm.

It’s been a big year for Brian, whose book, McDermott’s Donegal Table, published by O’Brien Press, was recognised as the world’s best cookery book written by a restaurant chef earlier this year.

One of nine shortlisted in the global category, Brian beat titles from Argentina, Spain, South Africa and Singapore to scoop the award.

The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards – which took place as part of the Macao International Book Fair – recognise global excellence in food writing. Last year there were entries from more than 200 countries, and more than 100 prizes were awarded.