Eileen Dunne is having a glitterball on Dancing With the Stars – and it's no wonder she doesn't want her journey to end anytime soon.
Tonight though the former RTÉ newsreader and the other DWTS contestants are facing the first elimination vote in the current run of the hit show and there’s understandably a bit of apprehension around rehearsals this week.
That’s not to say that anyone - and certainly not Eileen - is going to hold back when they hit the dancefloor. As she’s proved already, Eileen’s pretty much up for anything.
Last week, for example, she danced a cha cha cha to Let’s Get Loud by Jennifer Lopez with pro partner Robert Rowiński.
They gave it socks – but what really got television viewers talking was Eileen's J-Lo ponytail. Laughing about it, she says: "I wanted to get into the J-Lo zone.
"And just over lunch on one of the days, somebody mentioned the J-Lo ponytail. I said: ‘God, I should get a ponytail! Who should I ask?’
"So they set it in train . . . we tried it out on the Saturday and it seemed to work, so they did a bit more work on it on Sunday and made it happen."
Eileen may have the nation nattering about her – but what about her own family? It’s one thing having your other half or mother reading the news - appearing on Dancing With the Stars is another matter entirely.
Clearly, Eileen finds it all amusing, but insists her family – actor hubby Macdara Ó Fátharta and son Cormac, who’s in Australia - are 100% behind her.
"Macdara’s down in Galway, recording Ros na Rún, but he’s up this weekend," she says. "He’s coming to the show. And Cormac is coming home in two weeks’ time. He’s seen the clips, so he’s keeping an eye. I’m not sure whether he’s mortified or what but he sounds really enthusiastic anyway."
They’re the ones, of course, who know the real Eileen Dunne. The Eileen we know is the newsreader, a serious job, which would only show one element of her personality. Now we're getting too see the fun, flamboyant part of her personality. It's an eye-opener!
Showing another side is something she wanted to with her time on Dancing With the Stars. "Well I think that the whole point," she says. "It was one of the reasons why I was asked to do it in the first place
"I find that, from talking to Aengus [Mac Grianna] and Mary [Kennedy] and some of the others, if you're going to do it, you may as well go the whole hog."
Laughing, she adds: "I just decided, whatever they want me to do, I'll do. I haven’t had to say 'no’ yet."
Mary Kennedy, who also enjoyed a stint on Dancing With the Stars, offered Eileen some advice before she took on the challenge of putting her best foot forward in front of a huge TV audience.
"Mary just said enjoy every moment of it. And it really is such a privilege to be taught how to dance properly by such professionals, and to work with them.
"And it's not just what we’re doing – it's to get an insight into their lives too, how they operate and all the rest of it.
"Mary and Anne Doyle are coming along this Sunday, so it’ll be lovely to have them in the audience too."
So far, the judges haven’t been generous with the points awarded to Eileen and dance partner Robert. But they have been encouraging. The same goes for the general public.
As Eileen goes about her daily business, she’s been getting a lot of praise and support from the public.
She says: "The feedback has been very positive so far, with people – mostly around my own age – saying ‘Fair play to you, I don’t think I could do it!’
"I’m just hoping that translates into votes on Sunday because we’re getting towards elimination time.
"Going by the judges [votes so far] I’m second last, so we’ll see what happens."
Dancing With the Stars, 6.30pm on RTÉ One and streaming on RTÉ Player
