Dancing with the Stars review: Erica Cody makes history with ‘celebrity killer’ samba
Erica Cody and Denys Samson earned the highest opening score from the judges in DWTS history. Pictures: KOBPIX
After kicking off with the first six dancers last week, Sunday night’s Dancing with the Stars introduced us to six more would-be winners, and one earned the highest opening score from the judges in DWTS history.
“Put on a little makeup, makeup. Make sure they get your good side, good side.” It was a clever choice to have broadcaster Aengus Mac Grianna open with a charleston to Adam Ant's Goody Two Shoes, a cheeky nod to a certain live-air makeup gaffe of his back in 2013.
Mac Grianna, with professional partner Emily Barker, impressed judges Lorraine Barry, who was wowed by his “transformation” and Arthur Gourounlian, who described the routine as really fun. Brian Redmond, however, though he still looked “a bit news reader-y” when dancing. They were awarded 16 points.
Fresh out of isolation after a Covid-19 diagnosis, Love Island star Matthew MacNabb danced the Viennese waltz to Charlie Puth's Dangerously, but the judges thought the routine too slow.
Gourounlian said he was “off-music” sometimes and warned his height and good looks aren’t enough to carry him through and Redmond agreed, adding it didn’t have “enough bite”. The pair received 13 points, the lowest of the night. MacNaab said it was “really difficult” to practise while he was quarantining. "Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,” his dance partner Laura Nolan agreed.
Rugby sevens player Jordan Conroy took to the dancefloor energetically and enthusiastically with a salsa routine to Jason Derulo's Take You Dancing. He impressed the judges, with Redmond saying their lifts were like those done in a final and Barry added it was a “tremendous start, wow, wow, wow!” He and partner Salome Chachua received 22 points from the judges, the highest points across the two opening episodes of the series.
Conroy’s high score was soon threatened by singer Erica Cody, who danced the samba with Denys Samson to Kiss My (Uh Oh) by Anne Marie and Little Mix. The judges were full of praise for her movement, energy and attitude on the dancefloor. “Those hips definitely do not lie,” Gourounlian gushed while Redmond said the Samba is a “celebrity killer” but Cody “killed it”. The judges awarded them 24 points, making it the highest-scoring first dance in Dancing with the Stars history. "What a way to start the new year," she joked.
The oldest contestant this year is Aslan drummer Billy McGuinness, but his cheery foxtrot to Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life with Hannah Kelly had Gourounlian noting that “age is but a number” and Redmond said he should “keep bringing the fun and sort out the frame” to last for quite a while in the competition. A judges’ score of 16 kept the smile on McGuinness’s face.
Closing the show was Paralympic gold medallist Ellen Keane, who went cheek-to-cheek with Stephen Vincent to perform a tango to Golden by Harry Styles. Keane, who has one hand, said so far she and Vincent have not had to adapt a dance to compensate for her disability. Redmond tipped her as a contestant worth watching and Gourounlian too said the swimmer is “definitely on the right show”, while Barry said Keane held her own throughout and has “lots of potential”. Their tango earned 21 points from the judges.
The public vote will determine the overall results of the first two episodes and next weekend will see the first elimination of the season.
