It’s an abrupt fade to black for former Mrs Brown’s Boys star Rory Cowan, who has become the first contestant eliminated from Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) 2024 (RTÉ One, Sunday, 6.30pm). The enthusiastic Cowan is understandably disappointed at his early exit. But he can’t be surprised, having finished towards the bottom of the leader board for the third straight week.
“I’m delighted with myself that I did the show,” he says at the conclusion of an episode that provides an enjoyable distraction from the atrocious weather. “I’ve loved every minute of it. No regrets at all.”
As Ireland is stomped all over by Storm Isha, the going is almost as bruising on the DWTS floor. Drag star Blu Hydrangea and partner Simone Arena win the evening, receiving a blockbusting 25 for their tango to Lady Gaga.
At the other end of the table, soon-to-depart Cowan and partner Jillian Bromwich stutter to a 13 for their salsa to Macarena by Los del Rio. They’re attired like flamingos but there is no pretty-in-pink ending. Though the judges try to be positive, Cowan continues to struggle with the basics.
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“It’s like a cocktail on holidays – sweet and colourful, but too much and you’ll get a headache,” says Brian Redmond. “Rory – you’ve been busy. Jillian must have cracked the whip, but you forgot to bring the hips,” adds Loraine Barry.
If Cowan is the obvious candidate for an early exit, he’s pushed all the way by jockey Davy Russell, who scrapes a score of 12 after dad-dancing his way through a samba. “It was forced ... no fluidity,” says Redmond. “I hope you haven’t fallen at the first hurdle.”
Russell lives to twirl another day – as does newsreader Eileen Dunne, cheered from the sidelines by fellow RTÉ icons Mary Kennedy and Anne Doyle – the latter turning a whiter shade of “oh my god” when Dunne suggests she give DWTS a spin in the future.
Dunne scores 17 – indicating she won’t be in contention at the business end of the series but that there is a safe distance between her and stragglers Russell and Cowan.
Amid the increasingly dire weather, Dancing With the Stars brings lots of cockle-warming fun. It is just the thing when you want to draw the blinds and forget it’s raining sideways.
There is an evocative final dance, too, as Paralympian Jason Smyth and pro partner Karen Byrne deliver a moving classic ballroom that recreates on screen Smyth’s sight disability, which turns the centre of his field of vision into a dark blotch.
That said, the horrible weather conditions intrude once or twice as the broadcast freezes and stutters. This has unintentionally hilarious consequences when poor Redmond is caught mid-sentence in a feedback loop.
With his left arm jerking back and forth, he looks like he’s ended up at an illegal rave by accident and is trying to bop his way to the exit without anyone noticing. Still, the glitches fail to ruin the fun, and with Movie Week beckoning seven days hence, Dancing with the Stars 2024 has finally achieved take-off.
