There’s no Hollywood ending for Elaine Crowley as Movie Week on Dancing With The Stars (RTÉ One, Sunday 6.30pm) sees final credits roll for the Ireland AM presenter. She’s second to go following the departure of Mickey Joe Harte the previous week, and the elimination is a visible blow to Crowley, who has been keen to participate in the mass weeping session that is the upcoming Dedications Week.
Instead, she waves goodbye after a so-so jive with Denys Samson that doubles as a valentine to the movie Hairspray. “I’m disappointed not to make it to next week – I had a shaky day, I’m not going to lie,” she says from beneath a vast beehive quiff.
But if it’s a bad hair (spray) day for Crowley, it’s a far happier one for celebrity chef Kevin Dundon – spared yet again by the voting public despite a disastrous Shrek-themed jive to I’m A Believer – which begins as it means to continue with Dundon emerging from a portaloo and stinking the place up.
“More donkey than Shrek,” says a despairing judge Brian Redmond. Dundon’s score of eight (out of a potential 30) confirms he is by some distance the season’s most hapless participant – despite the best efforts of pro partner Rebecca Scott. With his daddy cool routine proving bafflingly popular with audiences – maybe they could do with a laugh after all the terrible weather – he carries on to horrify the judges another day while the more proficient Crowley is sent packing.
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Movie Week begins with the sad news that judge Loraine Barry is absent following the death of her mother. Later, there’s a shameless shout-out by MC Doireann Garrihy for her new 2FM gig (not to be confused with the 2FM gig she gave up in May). “That is a plug – you’re not allowed to do that,” chuckles co-host Jennifer Zamparelli, all those storm-clouds last year about RTÉ staff having seemingly vanished faster than Kneecap’s Oscar prospects.
If Dundon is the top of the flops, this year’s gold medal contender is surely Olympic gold medalist Rhys McClenaghan, who fulfils his childhood dream of dressing as Spider-Man (or at least Spider-Man with a glitterball trophy motif in place of his Spidey badge) to dance a stunning Charleston with Laura Nolan. It’s a tour de force, featuring lifts and twirls and ending with McClenaghan sweeping Nolan along the floor. Holy 10 points, to quote a rival comic book franchise.
Spider-Man in a ballroom setting is a potentially sticky scenario, but McClenaghan soars and has the judges on their feet. “The whole thing was perfect,” enthuses Karen Byrne. “You have all the tricks.” He scores two perfect 10s and a nine – a super-heroic conclusion that to a Movie Week that keeps it reel and features the ultimate twist ending. Kevin Dundon surviving to dance another day.
