Dancing with the Stars' Blu Hydrangea has paid tribute to her professional dance partner Simone Arena for making the show such an inclusive and enjoyable experience.
The RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World champion and the Italian professional, a winner of the Belgian version of Dancing with the Stars, were top of the leaderboard last weekend with 25 points.
On Movie Week tonight, they're dancing a Salsa to Dua Lipa's Dance the Night from Barbie as the partnership goes from strength to strength and accentuates the positive.
"We kind of did click immediately and now, especially seeing him around other people, he's very much like the calm [one] and he's the quiet one in the group," Blu Hydrangea told RTÉ Entertainment.
"Like, he definitely is - pun intended, maybe - the straight man - and I will happily be the laughter and let him take that role!
"It's been really great - especially because he is a straight man and I feel like there's a lot of backlash and whatever that could've come with dancing with me, but he's taken it all in his stride. He hasn't had a second thought about me being anything other than a dance partner, and that's been amazing."
She described Arena as a hard taskmaster who is also up for the banter.
"He's strict enough - he will always get me up off my phone, you know, and away from the snacks! - but also fun enough that I get to enjoy my experience as well.
"I can always tell if I enjoy someone whenever I can have a bit of banter with them and we're definitely at that stage where I can take the mick out of him for his height!
"The other day, someone commented on my TikTok, saying, 'It looks like you're bending down, like, you're having a hard time bending down to dance with this guy...', which is actually part of the Tango - you have to bend into it a little bit.
"But I sent it to him and said, 'Oh, this is a height joke' - and he sent me three different articles that mention how tall he is! I just love that now we can have that banter, I feel like that's a good sign of a good partnership, for sure."
Dancing with the Stars, Sundays, RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, 6:30pm
