The Valentine’s weekend edition of Dancing with the Stars (RTÉ One, Sunday, 6.30pm) ends in heartache for the Kin star Yasmin Seky, who exits the contest after losing a dance-off to the former Miss Universe Ireland Aishah Akorede.
Seky, performing alongside her pro partner, Simone Arena, is understandably disappointed. But the real puzzler is how a prat-falling Kevin Dundon has once again dodged elimination.
The chef, who has been working his dad-dance shtick throughout the competition, is thoroughly outshone this week by the mullet wig he sports performing a paso doble to Bon Jovi’s You Give Love a Bad Name (bad mane, more like) with Rebecca Scott. Yet his parent-at-wedding routine continues to charm viewers, meaning two far more accomplished performers are forced to hoof for their lives in the dance-off.
Seky tries to take the exit on the chin after her jive to Imelda May’s cover of Tainted Love receives the thumbs down from the judges. “I feel great. I improved week after week,” she says, before adding, “I’m going to miss getting my hair done.”
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If unfair to Seky, the dance-off is the love heart on top of an enjoyable night that celebrates romance in all dance-floor-based possibilities. Enjoyable but baffling. While Seky finishes second from last on the leader board, she’s still a full nine points ahead of the hapless Dundon, while Akorede is a further five points in front, on 33.
With so little to choose between Seky and Akorede it’s anyone’s guess which of them the judges will spare. Alas, a mid-dance freeze by Seky hands the momentum to her rival, and Akorede, reprising her paso doble with Robert Rowiński, earns a clean sweep of nods from the panel – though Arthur Gourounlian speaks for many when he says he’s shocked to find the duo in the dance-off in the first place.
Gourounlian looks every bit as stunned earlier in the broadcast when his measured critique of the Romeo and Juliet–inspired rumba of the Olympic gold medallist Rhys McClenaghan and Laura Nolan earns a prominent boo from the audience. He freezes, presumably wondering whether Samantha Mumba has returned for seconds following their differences of opinion about her Eurovision song.
The other talking point is the record-breaking perfect score achieved by the front-runner, the taekwondo champion Jack Woolley, who, dancing a contemporary ballroom with Alex Vladimirov, clocks up full marks from the judges. It’s the first 40 in the history of DTWS – a testament to Woolley’s talent and the fact that this is the first year the judging panel has been bumped from three to four.
So it’s all smelling of roses for Woolley while Seky is left heartbroken. Next week it’s Orchestra Night – where the big question will be how Dundon has once again avoided elimination even when his goose seems truly cooked.
