Week one of Dancing with the Stars was overshadowed by the onset of a new year’s ice age across the country. Seven days later, however, the ratings juggernaut (RTÉ One, 6.30pm) delivers in style as its frozen exterior melts and the emotions flow.
Goosebumps abound. Meteorologist Joanna Donnelly moves onlookers to tears with a waltz soundtracked by Barbra Streisand’s rendition of Moon River, her late mother’s favourite tune. Lips are set wobbling everywhere – with problematic results for fellow celeb Jack Woolley, who is preparing for a bad-boy chacha with Alex Vladimirov featuring his trademark “Woolley wiggle”.
“Joanna made me sob,” says the tae kwon do Olympian as he contemplates his own, slinkier routine. “As soon as she’s finished, Oh my god ... ”
Donnelly’s emotive performance with Maciej Zieba had its match in a stormy tango by Olympic gold medal gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and Laura Nolan, taking inspiration from a routine made famous by judge Loraine Barry. “That’s my music,” says Barry. “Some of the moves are my moves. I feel very emotional towards that.”
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Sublime is followed by sci-fi and another blockbuster effort, this time by TV presenter Elaine Crowley, who dresses as Keanu Reeves in The Matrix for a paso doble with Denys Samson scored by Gossip’s Standing In The Way of Control.
Standing in the way of everyone else on the leader board is Mrs Brown’s Boys star Danny O’Carroll, whose Michael Bublé-accompanied Charleston with Salome Chachua features the comedian dressed as a window cleaner and wiping the floor with his rivals. “I’m struggling to find something negative,” says Brian Redmond on the panel. “What a joy – Danny boy!” agrees Arthur Gourounlian.
A clean sweep of nines from the judges has O’Carroll topping the table on the night and standing third overall behind McClenaghan and Woolley. Down in the basement, meanwhile, it’s a rough night for singer Mickey Joe Harte, whose jive with Daniela Roze fails to rise while celebrity chef Kevin Dundon’s boggle-eyed samba with Becca Scott reduces the panel to a condition of existential horror.
“At times you were going faster than the music,” says Karen Byrne. “I thought someone had connected the mains electricity to the floor – so many steps going on,” gasps Redmond.
As Redmond points out, the fun and games are now at an end. Eliminations begin in week three, and while it’s as yet difficult to predict a winner, when it comes to first celebrity out the door, it’s hard to look beyond the less-than-dynamic duo of Harte and Dundon.
