Dubliner Alan McGarry hails ‘life-changing' experience on surgery reversal show with US reality stars
The new reality show sees McGarry, alongside celebrities and personalities including singer Aubrey O'Day and Kim Zolciak of The Real Housewives of Atlanta fame.
It is hosted by RuPaul's Drag Race judge, Michelle Visage, and plastic surgeon, Dr Terry Dubrow.
Dubliner McGarry (35) said they didn't think the likes of O'Day and Zolciak would 'have time to chat' to them, but the other participants on the show had plenty of time for them.
'To be in a house of people that don't know me, living an A-list lifestyle in LA, it was so nice for those people to say nice things. It was a shock, because I'm not used to hearing good things.
'For them to sit with me and have a cup of coffee and tell me all the good things about me meant a lot.'
While McGarry had work done in an effort to look better, they said it had the unintended consequence of attracting attention in public.
'I was so involved in how I wanted to look and present myself to people, the aesthetics and getting work done.
'People used to look and stare at me. It was a horrible feeling. I just wanted to have people stop looking at me and to feel and look normal. When I walk down the road, I never stop and stare at anybody.'
McGarry has been getting work done since the age of 19 or 20, and that path started with how they were treated growing up in Ballyfermot.
'I went to an all-boys primary school and people used to pick on me for being very flamboyant, and I suppose the bullying affected me in so many different ways.
'I started to change my look. And what I started to do was colour my hair consistently, because the ginger thing was a very big thing for me growing up.
'I know it might be funny now when people read it. Right now, it's a lovely thing to be ginger, but back then it just wasn't a great thing.'
Motivated to join the show by regrets over a Brazilian butt lift (BBL), McGarry said the experience became about many other aspects of their appearance.
'It was all about the butt lift. I didn't realise that deep down, there were other things that I wanted to get rid of.'
'It took me maybe a week or so in the house to realise the show was actually helping me decide my journey. If I didn't go on this show, I think I'd still be in a position to be going out and doing things to myself to make myself look better.'
They said their experience at the Hollywood 'rewind retreat' proved to be a journey of self-discovery.
'The show changed my life and my perspective in life. If I wasn't on the show, I don't think I'd know who the real Alan was. Since leaving the house, I'm living the true me.'
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