While the the Marty Party got into full swing from the very first show of this season's Dancing with the Stars, tonight GAA commentator and frequent resident of the scoreboard's bottom half Marty Morrissey came to a crashing halt after he was voted off by the judges.
A national treasure he may be, but a dancer he is not. Or as judge Brian Redmond put it: “You’re probably the best standing-still dancer ever”.
Placed in the bottom two in The Dreaded Dance Off against Britain’s Next Top Model finalist Alannah Beirne, who has been working her way up the scoreboard steadily, his rumba to Chris de Burgh’s The Lady in Red couldn’t save him.
"I just want to say.... Thank You."
— RTE One (@RTEOne) February 25, 2018
A final farewell from @MartyM_RTE for season 2 of #DWTSIrl.
What a gentleman.#MartyPartyisOver #DWTSIrl pic.twitter.com/xurpTvEYJ5
When it came to deciding who should leave, judges Redmond, Loraine Barry and Julian Benson were unanimous in giving Morrissey the boot.
Given this week’s theme, Guilty Pleasures week, where the celebrities get to pick the music for their routines, it’s only fitting that Morrissey should exit on a wave of molten cheddar.
“I suppose if the dancing doesn’t work out for Erin, I’ll have to watch out here in the weather,” says RTÉ weather presenter Evelyn Cusack, who was cruelly dragged into the show’s attempts of comedy during Erin McGregor’s rehearsal footage.
Dancing the cha-cha-cha to It’s Raining Men – yes, we get the weather tie-in – with her partner Ryan McShane, McGregor scores 25 points. This is an upswing from last week, where the fitness instructor experienced the highs of scoring the series’ first 10 and the lows of being in dance off against Bernard O’Shea. “I think you’ve started the competition tonight, Erin,” says Barry, forgetting that we’re eight weeks deep.
Credit where credit is due, Olympic race walker Robert Heffernan and his partner Emily Barker dropped football-sized mozzarella balls of cheese on the dance floor with their cha-cha-cha and hip-hop infusion to Ice Ice Baby by Vanilla Ice, chicken leg moves and all. The judges are disappointed with this routine – "too much faffing", according to Barry, and give him 18 points.
Pop star puddin’ from Liverpool Jake Carter chooses You’ll Never Walk Alone as his guilty pleasure and with the skill of his partner Karen Byrne, their Viennese waltz is an elegant and dramatic affair. “I’m easily pleased,” says Barry, “And I’m satisfied when I get the best and I see that tonight as the best”. And this week, the best gets you 28 points.
With her American Smooth (and a little bit of line dancing) to Achy Breaky Heart by Billy Ray Cyrus, former Cork GAA star Anna Geary proves that as a dancer, she's technically astute but more importantly, she's confident. She takes risks with her partner Kai Widdrington on a series of ambitious lifts but with 22 points, the judges aren't so impressed.
A stern-faced and deadly serious, comedian Deirdre O’Kane and her partner John Nolan give Steps’s version of Tragedy the dramatic paso doble treatment and the gravitas it deserves. “Deirdre, this was no tragedy, it was a triumph!” states Benson. O’Kane’s triumph equates to 24 points.
Next week, we have the twist of Team Dancers to add some more tension to Ardmore Studios. Just like West Side Story, our remaining six couples will be split into Group A and Group B and will get two separate songs to perform. The scores they get as a team will be added to their individual scores on the leaderboard. Barry may have told McGregor that she started the competition this week but now that Morrissey is gone, the competition can properly begin.
This week may have been all about the cheese but next week will bring the meat.
