Donal gets gate on 'Feirm Factor"

A young Athboy farmer who had been winning fans and wowing viewers of TG4"s 'Feirm Factor" TV programme was knocked out of the competition in last week"s show. Donal Glennon, who farms at Kildalkey Road, Athboy, was one of 12 farmers competing in the 'Feirm Factor" reality TV show, the top prize for which is a Land Rover. He became very popular with viewers and fellow contestants and was affectionately known on the show by his new nickname 'The Duck", but his run on the show finished last Thursday night when the judges eliminated him. Donal was known as the show"s clown and had been keeping viewers entertained with his wit, while competing in serious farm tasks such as hanging gates and dosing bullocks. He had also participated in a 'mastermind" competition and a cooking task. The show, which was pre-recorded last autumn, goes out on Thursday nights at 9.30pm on TG4 and is judged by Maura Derrane of TV3, former Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes and a farmer, Sean O"Leonard. The show is bilingual and Donal explained that, while he isn"t fluent in Irish, he is interested in the language and his girlfriend is from Rath Cairn. A son of Patricia and the late Michael Glennon, he is one of five children and is the farmer of the family. He is also a popular member of the local Macra na Feirme club and chairman of the environment committee of Meath IFA.