Dr Eva Orsmond has said she survived on Dancing with the Stars a week longer than she deserved, and that she should have been eliminated from the show last week instead of model Thalia Heffernan.
Having received the lowest scores from the judges again on Sunday night, the weight loss expert and professional partner Seán Smullen were eliminated from the show when the panel's scores were combined with the public vote.
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Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on his RTÉ Radio 1 show on Monday, Orsmond said she had been preparing herself from the start of the series to be the first contestant to go home.
An #EVAChaCha from @DrEvaOrsmond & @lovedancingie #DWTSIrl pic.twitter.com/8FocUQWRCf
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"I didn't think I was as good as the others," she admitted. "But then, obviously, I was hoping in my head that I was being critical about myself.
"You hope until the end that you stay and I was preparing myself to go but at the same time, when you're standing there as the last three [couples], you say, 'Please don't [mention] my name'."
When asked if she was, as some had claimed, teary after the result was announced, Orsmond replied: "I was sad, but no; I wasn't fighting tears because, I suppose, the last three weeks the reality has hit. I actually, honestly myself, I think it was unfair that I didn't leave last week.
I did really think Thalia was much better than me and I should've left last week
Despite her elimination, Orsmond said she loved being part of the series, where contestants are "in another world, and you're allowed to be a child".
"Every time when I was waiting to go on the stage and do the dance I said to myself, 'Why am I doing this? I don't need to do this and I'm putting myself under this pressure and this horrible torture!'" she laughed.
"And then I said to myself - when I'm there and I love it - 'Do you know what? Just enjoy it. Think about it: the audience, 650,000 people watching it, have a ball! It's only a once-in-a-lifetime occasion. It won't happen again'. And that's what I did."
Regarding the criticism she received from the judging panel on Sunday - when guest judge Darren Bennett stood in for the ill Julian Benson - Orsmond said she "didn't have any problems with anything they were saying".
"I had done that job for six years and I believe they know their job, they know what's good for you," said the former Operation Transformation star.
"It's not that they're there to be mean. Actually constructive criticism, take it - you are there to improve."
"I have a feeling Julian would've given me maybe six or seven!" she added, laughing.
With eight couples now remaining on the show, Orsmond feels that there are three duos in contention for the glitterball trophy: singer Dayl Cronin and his professional partner Ksenia Zsikhotska; former Fair City star Aoibhín Garrihy and her partner Vitali Kozmin; and Red Rock's Denise McCormack and her partner, Ryan McShane.
"The gap between the weaker dancers and the really talented ones is getting bigger," she said. "That's why I'm saying, 'You know what? Whatever happens happens for a reason'."
Dancing with the Stars, Sunday, RTÉ One, 6.30pm
