The final whistle has blown for soccer star Stephanie Roche, who has been eliminated from Dancing With The Stars (RTÉ One, 6.30pm) in the season’s first dance-off. An early shower was always on the cards for the Ireland international whose fleet-footedness on the pitch has not translated to the dance floor.
“I’ve come in as a pretty raw dancer,” she says after judges Arthur Gourounlian and Brian Redmond vote to eliminate her. “I’m quite a competitive person. You want to keep getting better. I feel we’ve done that.”
She placed bottom of the leader board again this week, scoring a 19 for her samba to Con Calma by Daddy Yankee feat. Snow with pro partner Ervinas Merfeldas. But the most remarkable thing about the dance-off – setting aside Roche’s head-to-toe red tracksuit – is the fact her opponent is early front-runner Suzanne Jackson.
The blogger and influencer lit up the leader board in the opening episodes of the contest. This week she and pro partner Michael Danilczuk finish mid-table with their American Smooth to I’ve Got You Under My Skin by Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga. And then, adding to the insult, the voting public puts her in the bottom two – ahead of the season’s other straggler, former rugby international Shane Byrne.
The Big Irish Times Quiz of 2024
Nanci Griffith: From a Distance review – harrowing account of the country music star’s life that ended in isolation and alcoholism
Róisín Ingle: My profound, challenging, surprisingly joyful, life-changing year
Dancing with the Stars 2025: Who are the contestants, when is it on and more
Byrne’s quirkiness may be saving him. He put in a madcap jive to Land of 1,000 Dances by Vinnie Jones, with pro partner Karen Byrne – which features the rugby star head over heels splitting his legs while Karen Byrne gazes through. You don’t see that every day – unless you’ve eaten too much Gorgonzola before bed. Is Byrne surviving on novelty alone?
He won’t win the contest. With Jackson’s star dwindling, the front-runners remain Eurovision singer Brooke Scullion and Glee! alum Damian McGinty
Scullion blazed to a 27 with her jive to Lizzo’s 2 Be Loved (Am I Ready). “You always have such zesty action but tonight you reined it in. It was so visible in your foot and leg action,” says Loraine Barry. “In the chicken walks, the thighs were together.”
Glee’s McGinty does even better. He and Kylee Vincent dance a Charleston on a table to No Swinggity by Minimatic. “The lifts were dangerously good,” swoons Loraine Barry. “The deal you wanted to sign was signed, sealed and delivered tonight.”
He receives 29 – two perfect 10s and a near-perfect nine. Anything can happen in the remaining weeks – but it’s hard to look beyond Scullion and McGinty as potential winners.
One name definitely no longer in the conversation is Roche. She was a plucky presence throughout her time on the show but never entirely comfortable under the disco light. However, with bright red tracksuit and a burning desire to do better, she gives it her all in her final week. She walks back to the dressingroom head held high.
