 Michael O'Doherty, writing in the same publication, ridiculed the contestants who were "short, rotund, and believe that poncing around in a ring for ten minutes is going to make them 'look hard'", whilst also criticising Paul Martin and Joe O'Shea by telling his followers to "ignore their wordy, self-serving bollox".David Robbins, writing in the "Irish Independent", described it as "the lowest point in popular culture since the Circus Maximus", pointing out that RTÉ, having already placed celebrities in kitchens, hotels, GAA dressing rooms and sinking ships, was now encouraging "celebrities [to beat] each other up" and that this "may reduce the available pool of contestants for future shows, and thus hasten the end of the genre as a whole".After the series had begun, there were reviews too.