Karen Byrne on her engagement to Jake Carter and why she isn't planning a wedding yet

Dancing With the Stars judge Karen Byrne is in a good place - she's loving being on live TV, running her dance studio and being engaged to her best friend, Jake Carter. She credits the gym for keeping her strong,  mentally and physically 

Judge Karen Byrne during the live show of RTE’s Dancing With The Stars. Pic:Kyran O’Brien

“I see us as each other’s number-one fan,” says Dancing with the Stars judge Karen Byrne. “I want to see Jake succeed, and he’s the same with me.”

Jake is Liverpudlian singer-songwriter Jake Carter, whom Byrne first met in 2018, when they were partnered on season two of the hit show. (“One of the producers was like, ‘You’re going to dance with Jake. He’s a singer. And I was like, ‘OK, who’s that, haven’t a clue?’,” Byrne recalls.) Byrne and Carter won the coveted glitterball trophy that year (she partnered Paralympic athlete Jason Smyth to victory in 2024), but the two didn’t get together romantically until after the show.