Dancing with the Stars recap: Katelyn Cummins shines as dark horses emerge on opening night
Presenters Jennifer Zamparelli and Laura Fox during the opening show of season nine of Dancing With The Stars. Picture: Kyran O’Brien
is back for another season, with a new host, a new head judge, three new professional dancers and 12 new celebrities.
Yes, it was a busy opening night for one of RTÉ’s most popular shows. Laura Fox is stepping into Doireann Garrihy’s shoes while the presenter enjoys her maternity leave, and Oti Mabuse — former professional dancer on the UK’s — has taken Loraine Barry’s seat on the judging panel. James Cutler from Birmingham, and Ariana Favaro and Leonardo Lini from Italy, are the new professional dancers.
Opening the ninth season was former Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh. Paired with Stephen Vincent, Kavanagh sang her heart out to by Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine... and did a bit of salsa too. It “wasn’t a bad start,” judge Brian Redmond commented. She scored 17.
That was on the lower end of Sunday night's leaderboard. She was joined there by star Stephanie Kelly, who had “a gorgeous, natural flow” with partner Ervinas Merfelda, according to judge Karen Byrne, but scored just 19 for her American Smooth.
The lowest scores of the night went to podcaster (and sister of Vogue Williams) Amber Wilson and star Paudie Moloney. Moloney scored just 13, but the judges’ comments were encouraging. In particular, the Limerick man was given a very high bar to clear by Mabuse, who compared him to her former partner — and winner — Bill Bailey. “They laughed at us in week one,” she said, telling Moloney she believed he was a dark horse. Wilson, who is paired with Alex Vladimirov — the first all-female pairing in the Irish show’s history — scored 14 points for her cha-cha-cha set to Katy Perry’s with the judges commenting on how "stiff" she was.
On the other end of the spectrum, reigning Katelyn Cummins delivered “the dance of the night,” according to new head judge Oti Mabuse. Her paso doble to by Taylor Swift earned a standing ovation from three of the four judges, with the only one left sitting — Brian Redmond — commenting that she had just caused herself a serious problem. How will she keep this up? With a score of 31 in week one, we have to wonder if that’s a series record?
But there were plenty of other impressive week-one scores.
Influencer Eric Roberts’ jive included the moonwalk, the hoover and some other classic wedding moves. Judge Brian’s advice? Drop the gimmicks, because he can clearly dance. “If this is your week one, oh my god!” Oti commented. He and dance partner Ariana Favaro scored 29.
Entrepreneur and former finalist Jordan Dargan entered the competition all guns blazing with a high-tempo salsa that earned him a whopping 28 points, and musician Tolü Makay, who was tasked with a samba for her first dance — notoriously one of the hardest dances for celebrities to master — achieved a brilliant score of 27.
Sitting pretty in the middle of the leaderboard were Olympic rower Philip Doyle, who scored 22 for his waltz; comedian Michael Fry, whose delightful quickstep earned him 21 points; presenter Anne Cassin, who delivered a sexy and charming foxtrot and scored 23; and singer Brian Kennedy, who also scored 23 points with new professional James Cutler.
“I’ve had the roughest ten years of my life,” Kennedy told new host Laura Fox, saying he was “overwhelmed” to be there and dancing despite a decade of health challenges.
