Dancing With The Stars judge Loraine Barry reveals contestant she is most nervous about 

As Dancing With The Stars returns to ease our January blues, Mary Cate Smith meets judge Loraine Barry to get the inside track on the new season

Dancing With The Stars returns on January 8 on RTÉ One

Dancing with the Stars head judge Loraine Barry always had a strong connection with her intuition.

“I knew I was going to be a champion, I just knew. I sense a lot. Some people call me a white witch because I know things.”

Does she ever get an inkling of how the DWTS contestants will do on a particular night?

“Yeah, very much. I don’t want to say that I have premonitions because that’s too far-fetched. But I do have gut instincts like ‘don’t do that, don’t go there’.”

It was dogged determination that prompted the four-time world dance champion to take up a part-time job as a teenager to help her parents pay for her dance tuition.

“We were from Cabra. It was a big expense for my parents because we were all dancing. My father was a taxi driver. My mother was a dressmaker. We were lucky because my mother and my aunt Phyllis, they used to do a lot of my dresses and decorate them as well.”

The crafty gene runs in the family and this year, Loraine is championing sustainability by re-wearing and upcycling last year’s wardrobe. “I’m wearing everything I wore in January, February, and March. I’m also pulling in some other pieces from three years ago. We don’t use the clothes that we do have and I think that a lot of people are having hard times, it goes to show that we can do things differently.”

Loraine has been working with her former dance student Francesca Lazzari who is now a full-time fashion designer and artist.

“Francesca has been picked for New York Fashion Week and she has just worked with Tiffany & Co doing live illustrations of people who come in to buy a ring. She got into New York Fashion Week off the back of her portfolio of dresses that she made for me for Dancing with the Stars.”

When Loraine came to Francesca with the idea, she was initially quite surprised but got on board pretty quickly when Loraine explained the reasoning behind it.

“The message needs to be that we can all use our clothes again. You can add things and change it up that way but you don’t have to use materials like sequins which are not biodegradable.”

Loraine Barry says it’s all about mindset

Loraine is very excited about this year’s lineup.

“Carl Mullan — my goodness, I’m a bit nervous about that one because he’s such a character. He’s up for anything. Marie Cassidy too. This is a woman for whom details are very important, but how is she going to cope with the details of dancing? We’ve got Stephanie Roche too — it’s a great lineup.”

Loraine comes across exactly the same as she does on TV; grounded, professional, polite, and self-assured.

“What you see on camera, that’s exactly me. I wouldn’t be able to go on and be someone else.”

Indeed, she has spoken openly about miscarriage and marriage breakups in the media.

“I don’t feel pressure to talk about these things because I can always choose to say no comment. There is a line, I don’t have to go through every single detail.”

It’s important not to apply the same judging criteria towards the celebrities on the show as she would in a professional dancing competition, Loraine says.

“It’s all about mindset. I know that the celebrity is way out of their comfort zone and will face challenges, be it even just with the damn shoes itself. That’s a challenge for a lot of the ladies with the heels and for the man wearing patent leather shoes where they stick together. Or the Cuban heels.”

Even if the dancer is not giving it their all, it’s not in her nature to be derogatory, says Loraine. She prefers constructive criticism.

“I wouldn’t be annoyed because I don’t think that achieves anything. I would be disappointed. Especially if the professional was giving it their all and their celebrity wasn’t. Equally so, if my professional is not giving it their all. I’d never slam them down. That’s not my way. I think you can deliver a clear message with something positive and negative in there.”

Does she have any favourite moments of the last few years?

“I remember Aoibhín Garrihy dancing a rumba. It’s such a hard dance to do and she made it look good. Lottie Ryan, the work ethic she put in, but she was with the taskmaster, Pasquale.”

Loraine is excited to be back on live TV with her fellow judges, Brian, who she has known for over 30 years and “sweet” Arthur who is in “love with his daughter and nothing else matters”.

She’s hoping that each celebrity comes in with an open mind and a willingness to step outside of their comfort zone. As for the rumours of the show being axed, she’s urging fans to write in and ask for that not to happen. “Everyone — get pen to paper and bombard RTÉ saying we don’t want it to go.”

• Dancing With The Stars returns on January 8 on RTÉ One