Dancing with the Stars recap: Missed steps, a missing pro, and one celeb sent home
Derry Girls Leah O’Rourke has danced her last dance
Leah O'Rourke has become the first celebrity to leave Dancing with the Stars 2023.
The Derry Girls actress had scored just 11 points for her Cha Cha Cha this week and was bottom of the leaderboard.
Reacting to the news that she was the first out, she said she was “feeling OK”.
“With my limited dance ability, this was always a very real possibility for me,” she said, “I came on, I gave it a shot."
The 34-year-old's departure was one of the least surprising aspects of week three of the show which got off to a very rocky start with influencer Suzanne Jackson's jive.
Deemed the "one to watch," last week, there was a lot of pressure to impress which, unfortunately, seemed to be too much to bear as she appeared to forget pretty much all of her dance partner Michael Danilczuk’s choreography.
Despite this, the SoSueMe beauty still managed to score 15 points from the judging panel which left many viewers confused.
Taking to her social media after the show, Suzanne said, "What can I say? Missed a beat, and that was it."
"Steps left my head, and music was so fast, couldn’t get it back.
"I’m obviously gutted as we trained so hard, but it is what it is. I’ll dust myself off and we’ll come back fighting."
Next to the floor was comedian Kevin McGahern with a tango to by The Boomtown Rats. It was missing “passion,” according to judge Arthur Gourounlian, while judge Brian Redmond branded it “floppy”.
Both Kevin and his dance partner Lauran Nolan got on the defensive with the Cavan man exclaiming “I am not sure how sensual I can make it without getting a divorce!”
He scored 17, a disappointing score after last week’s 21.
Without a wife to worry about, GAA star Paul Brogan had no reason to hold back with a romantic, passionate waltz danced in a pair of (quickly becoming signature) very tight trousers. It impressed the judges, with head judge Lorraine Barry saying it was the All-Ireland winner’s “best dance so far”. He walked away with 20 points.
But it was former state pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy who really was the first to give us a reason not to switch the channel this week.
Her fun and sassy salsa to Mama Wannna Manbo by Meghan Trainor was a delight to watch — which was made evident by the judges comments, but not in the scoring.
“You were the queen tonight of salsa,” Loraine Barry said, “you were fabulous”. Arthur “absolutely loved it” and Brian said it was “fun" if a bit "rough around the edges”.
Despite the almost entirely positive comments, Dr Marie still only scored 17.
Panti Bliss’ quickstep to Karma Chamelon had a bit of drag-esque performance in its first couple of seconds — but underneath the entertainment, there’s actually a lot of technical skill there according to our judges.
Notoriously picky Brian said “technically it was very very good,” with Loraine and Arthur also singing Panti’s praises.
Not one to take any bullshit, the drag queen responded to the comments by calling out the discrepancy between comments and scores: “Last week they said nice things and then gave us 6s”.
It was three 7s this week.
“It’s better than a 6,” Brian pointed out.
That’s true, but it’s still only 21 for the leaderboard.
We wonder what RTÉ 2FM broadcaster Carl Mullan has done to the DWTS wardrobe department when he arrives to the floor in a lime green getup which the star admits makes him look like HB's Loop the Loop.
He keeps "bringing the fun” but needs to work on “the technicalities,” according to judge Brian, but he was “on the right path” for head judge Loraine. His samba scored him 20 points.
Cork singer Cian Ducrot’s was the soundtrack to Glee star Damian McGinty’s “spectacular” Viennese Waltz.
Head judge Lorraine “absolutely loved it,” Brian called it “super” and Arthur started crying.
Unsurprisingly, it was one of the highest-scoring dances of the night with 25 for the leaderboard.
Next up was former Eurovision contestant Brooke Scullion and her partner... wait, what?
The singer is now paired with Robert Rowiński, but no explanation is given to viewers as to where her former partner Maurizio Benenato is gone or when he left.
How long did Brooke have to adjust to a new partner? How long had Robert to learn this sultry number?
In any case, the Derry girl impressed with her rumba and is top of the leaderboard again tonight with 26 points.
Footballer Stephanie Roche was the pleasant surprise of this week, coming back “with a vengeance” in judge Arthur’s words after scoring just 13 points for her cha cha cha in week one and foxtrot in week two. Tonight, she scored 23 for her Charlestown to Hustle by Pink which was a “mammoth change” from previous performances.
Former rugby player Shane Byrne delivered “the strangest Paso Doble” judge Arthur has ever seen, earning a score of just 15. He found himself in the bottom three alongside Leah O'Rourke and Carl Mullan, but he and Carl will live to see another day.
- Dancing with the Stars airs Sundays on RTÉ One at 6.30pm
