Dancing with the Stars: Davy Russell avoids 'catastrophe', David Whelan tops the board
Rosanna Davison topped the leaderboard this week, while Davy Russell had a last-minute partner swap and Eileen Dunne drove the studio audience wild with her cha-cha-cha
It's week two of Dancing with the Stars Ireland's latest season, and illness has swept the set.
With two professional dancers out due to illness, celebrity dancers Davy Russell and Jason Smyth had an even bigger challenge this week, as last-minute swaps meant they had to dance with new partners.
Former Miss World Rosanna Davison was first out the gap on Sunday with a sexy salsa that had her channelling her 21-year-old “inner party girl”. Judge Brian Redmond said she came out “a different woman,” this week, which was reflected in the scores. She kicked off the leaderboard with a 23 — a great improvement on last week’s score of 17.
TikToker Miriam Mullin was up next with a “fierce” samba. While head judge Loraine Barry said she needed to see some improvement in the Garryvoe star’s upper body, the judges were generally complimentary and she scored 21.
Fair City’s Shane Quigley Murphy delivered a beautiful waltz with partner Laura Nolan. Brian Redmond said there was “work to do” but he had the best ballroom frame he had seen “in a while”. Loraine meanwhile said the storytelling was “gorgeous”. He added 20 to the leaderboard.
An all-smiles Rory Cowan made a great improvement this week according to all three judges, with his Viennese waltz. However, Loraine said "a bit more discipline" was needed. He scored 14.
2FM's Laura Fox took on Contemporary Ballroom to Taylor Swift's Cruel Summer. Judge Brian said he "loved it," but he "didn't quite believe" the characterization, with Loraine agreeing she needed to "sell it a bit more". Constructive criticism for next week, and 22 for the scoreboard.
Six O'Clock show host Katja Mia delivered a unique, "fun, sexy Foxtrot," which Loraine admitted she enjoyed despite it not being the traditional ballroom performance she'd expected. It was a score of 22 for the leaderboard.
Six-time Paralympic gold medal-winning sprinter Jason Smyth was the first to take to the floor without his usual partner, Karen Byrne, dancing a Paso Doble with new partner Juliia Vasylenko. It wasn't "the best Paso Doble" Arthur noted, "but it's week two, it doesn't have to be the best". Jason said the week had been "disruptive" but the show was all about "adapting". He scored 17.
Ru-Paul's champion and last week's top scorer Blu Hydrangea delivered an American Smooth to Madonna's 'True Blue'. "This is how it's done," judge Arthur said, but the drag queen failed to top the leaderboard once more, scoring just 20.
Davy Russell was next up, performing a quick step with Laura Nolan after his partner Kylee Vincent became ill and had to pull out of Sunday's show just that morning. "I was very concerned that this could have turned into a catastrophe," judge Brian said, given the circumstances, "but it didn't, you did a really, really good job." Despite the kind words, the judges gave him a measly 15 points. Speaking to Doireann Garrihy after, Davy said he felt he hadn't given the performance he was hoping for, but was full of praise for Laura's "professionalism" stepping up at the final hour.
Meanwhile, Eileen Dunne started her cha-cha-cha with an ode to her newsreading beginnings, throwing her papers in the air as she swung her legs over the desk. "Your spirit and your determination was 100% there," Loraine said, though she said, unfortunately, what wasn't there was the cha-cha-cha moves... The studio audience and her fellow celebrity dancers went wild for it, but she scored just 13, leaving her bottom of the leaderboard.
Finishing the night on a high was Wild Youth's David Whelan who "absolutely smashed" his Charlestown despite disappointing judge Brian by its lack of lifts due to Whelan's ongoing shoulder injury. Despite it being a "challenge," Loraine said he undoubtedly passed it. With flying colours, it seemed, as he topped the leaderboard with 24.
- Dancing with the Stars continues for the next 9 weeks on RTÉ One every Sunday at 6:30pm.
