Jennifer Zamparelli narrates The Rocky Horror Show musical coming to Cork this month: 'It’s an absolute riot' 

The radio presenter, TV host and entrepreneur talks about Jason Donovan, Dancing with the Stars, Abba, and on-air bloopers

Jennifer Zamparelli. Photograph Moya Nolan

Jennifer Zamparelli wears lots of hats. She’s the mother of two children. She’s also a radio presenter, TV host of the Irish winter cultural phenomenon Dancing with the Stars, screenwriter, comedy actor, entrepreneur (she co-owns a luxury hair salon) and now she’s back treading the boards again in a musical, The Rocky Horror Show, which is touring Irish theatres this month.

“The musical has stood the test of time,” she says. “It’s been going since the 1970s. The creator, Richard O’Brien, also co-wrote the movie, which originally didn’t do so well, but it became a cult phenomenon when it played as a late-night picture show. It garnered this huge following, with people dressing up, attracting people who didn’t fit in, misfits who felt part of something. It was ahead of its time.

“It’s basically about sex and liberation, being who you want to be, and gender fluidity. A bunch of aliens come down to Earth and want to have sex with everyone. When I got the offer for it, I turned to my dad and said ‘Do you know what? I might give this one a miss’.”

“But then after doing some research myself, and making him watch a documentary about it, we’re both fully invested in it now. It’s an absolute riot. It’s a lot of fun. It’s still, I would say, ahead of its time, and probably needed more now than ever.”

Zamparelli plays the narrator, reprising a role performed by the likes of Jack Nicholson, Danny De Vito, and Stephen Fry. “Big shoes to fill,” she admits.

She’s reuniting with Jason Donovan for the production. The pair played a married couple in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert for a Dublin run in 2013. She says he has no airs or graces: “I suppose somebody of that stature who’s been on the West End and has done every musical under the sun, you’d think there’d be this persona, but he’s not a prima donna. He’s down to earth. Very much a family man. He just loves what he does and he’s kind. That really helps when you’re jumping in as a newbie to a production that’s been running for a long time.”

For Zamparelli, it’s another chance to work with a childhood crush, having been a Neighbours TV soap opera superfan in the late 1980s: “He might have even been a poster on my wall at one stage. I was running home to watch himself and Charlene get married at half one in the day on BBC. I’ll never forget it. The wedding of the century. It’s wild — he hasn’t changed. He’s actually got better looking with age.”

Rocky Horror Show: Adam Strong as Frank n Furter. Photo: David Freeman

Since leaving down her radio mic in 2024, after a decade as a presenter at RTÉ 2fm, she misses the camaraderie with her colleagues in the studio, the conversations on air — fielding offbeat stories from callers from around the country. Now that she has her “freedom”, she doesn’t miss the huge commitment — “being in the same place, same time, [practically] every single day” for 10 years.

One thing Zamparelli won’t give up any time soon is her role as the longest-serving Dancing with the Stars host, which she’s fronted since 2019, originally with Nicky Byrne and lately with Doireann Garrihy.

She loves the thrill of live television, even though the most unexpected things can happen: “It was [nerve-racking] in the beginning. I suppose as the Sundays go on, it gets easier, but it’s never a walk in the park because anything can go wrong. I’ve been on that stage where the whole system went down, and we had a blackout for seven minutes. But I always think ‘what’s the worst that can happen?’.

“At this stage, I’ve been through a lot of shows, but as soon as you get up to the top of those stairs, and you’re looking down, and there’s a live studio audience, the fear is there. It never, ever goes. I remember falling over a prop. I’m flashing my arse to the nation, but luckily, the camera had come away from me, so it was just the studio audience that got to see that sight. And I had to get through the rest of the show.”

“Covid was wild as well because we didn’t know what was happening. We didn’t know if we could let them dance together, and that was quite a scary time as well. And sure, look, I’ve been through a load of presenters as well — we’ve had Nicky, we’ve had Doireann. It’s all been great. It’s an infectious, joyous show to be part of. It’s a bit of brightness in the darkness of winter. I start it in the depths of winter. I’m driving in, it’s misery and rain. As soon as it’s over, we’re into spring and it’s brighter. It gets me through those dark months.”

Zamparelli says she has great regard for the celebrities who take on the challenge, who include the comedian Bernard O’Shea, her old sidekick on breakfast radio and the sitcom they co-wrote and starred in, Bridget & Eamon: “They’re put through their paces. They really work hard. I think anybody who gets through, even week-one, has a lot to be said for them because they’ve never done that before. It’s live, in front of an audience. There’s voting, a lot of pressure. I don’t know how they do it. And I don’t know how we’ve any more celebrities left in the country, but apparently, we do. So, we’re gonna keep doing it until we’ve got through all of them.”

• Jennifer Zamparelli is touring The Rocky Horror Show, including Cork Opera House (Tuesday, August 26 – Saturday, August 30). See: rockyhorror.co.uk

A Question of Taste

Best recent book you’ve read: I’ve just finished the whole Elements series — Water, Earth, Fire, Air — by John Boyne, which is a bit dark, but I do like a bit of darkness when I'm reading. They're all intertwined. I'm not a fast reader, so they’re the perfect read for me. I really enjoyed those books.

Best recent TV viewing: I tend not to watch much TV until the wintertime, but I did watch the latest White Lotus series. It was really good, but not as good as earlier ones.

Best recent film: I wouldn't be a massive Marvel or superhero fan, but I got to go to a screening of The Fantastic Four when I was covering recently for Dave Moore on Today FM. As superhero movie movies go it's up there. It's very good.

Best recent play: I went to see Tommy Tiernan in the Abbey Theatre acting in Kevin Barry’s The Cave with my mom. She wasn't keen on the first half, but after they did the eulogies, it flew along. I loved it from start to finish. The whole cast was phenomenal. I really enjoyed that.

Piece of music you’ve been listening to lately: My daughter watched Mamma Mia! and the sequel so we’re on an Abba absolute freight train, which is going nowhere. We're in the car, and all she wants to do is listen to Abba on a loop. We’re demented with Abba at the moment!