Author Cathy Kelly is swapping her keyboard for sparkly dancing shoes as she is revealed as the tenth celebrity joining the brand new season of Dancing with the Stars.
Speaking to Dáithí O'Sé and Emer O’Neill on RTÉ One's Today, Kelly spoke of her delight at getting the chance to doing something she has always wanted to do.
Kelly said: "I'm very proud to take part in Dancing with the Stars. It’s the fun and the joy of it. I’ve always wanted to learn how to dance so this is my big chance to do it."
She added: "I never wear high heels. I have been wearing them for about 2 weeks now - my partner said I had to start training with them on!.
"It's amazing at my ages to learn something new and have fun with a great group of people.
Kelly joins previously announced contestants Neil Delamere, Ellen Keane, Aengus Mac Grianna, Gráinne Seoige, Nicolas Roche, Erica Cody, Missy Keating, Billy McGuinness and Nina Carberry.
Beginning her career as a journalist, Cathy Kelly wrote for the Sunday World where she worked as an agony aunt and film critic.
However, writing fiction was always her passion and in 1997, her debut novel, Woman to Woman was published. Since then, Cathy has been delighting readers across the world with her female-centric fiction with a new book nearly every year.
She has written 20 best-selling novels over the last 25 years and at one point was outselling J.K Rowling and Dan Brown in the UK.
Presenters Jennifer Zamparelli and Nicky Byrne will be back at the helm of the series, which returns to RTÉ One in January 2022. Twelve new celebrity dancers will be hoping to make it all the way to the final.
Judges Loraine Barry and Brian Redmond will also return to Dancing with the Stars, and in January will be joined by a new judging panel member - the dancer and acclaimed choreographer Arthur Gourounlian.
Dancing with the Stars returns to RTÉ One and RTÉ Player this January.
