Rosanna Davison has said she is relieved to have survived the dreaded dance-off on Dancing With The Stars last Sunday night and paid tribute to her fellow competitor Eileen Dunne, who was eliminated from the show.
The former RTÉ newsreader and her pro-partner Robert Rowiński faced the first dance-off of the season and lost out to Rosanna and her dance partner Stephen Vincent.
Speaking just after Sunday’s show, the former Miss World said, "Did that really happen?! I didn’t have much time to panic before the dance-off and the feedback was that we danced it better than the first time so we’ll take that. Just delighted to be safe going into orchestra week and we are really going to give it a roll."
She added, "I was very accepting of it. Somebody has to be in the dance-off so why not us? hopefully, we’ll get the dance-offs out of the way and not have to face them again and I think it will give us extra motivation and extra fire in our bellies to work really hard next week."
She also paid tribute to Dunne who is now out of the show after seven weeks. "Everybody loves Eileen and I actually said sorry to her after we won the dance-off," said Rosanna. "I’ll message her and apologise again but unfortunately that’s just the way the show is set up.
"Eileen was an asset to the show. Everyone loved seeing a different side to her, the style, the clothes . . . she’s such a warm kind of person. I enjoyed great chats with her backstage over the weeks. She will be missed."
Asked if her parents, singer Chris de Burgh and his wife Diane, were in the audience on Sunday night, Rosanna said, "They actually weren’t. they were a wedding but they were tuning in from the wedding and getting everyone there to vote.
"They loved dedicated dance week last week and they really want to come to orchestra week so I’m just relieved that they will be able to be in the audience next weekend. There are many reasons to be grateful to be sticking around for next week."
However, she isn’t overly keen about the idea of dancing to one of her dad’s songs.
"Have we not had enough Chris de Burgh music for one week?" she said. "He’s loved all the attention that he’s been getting but one song is enough. It’s too much pressure dancing to one of my dad’s songs. Hahaha."
Speaking about how her family have reacted to her moves on the dance floor over the past seven weeks, she said, "My family used to make it very clear that I had no moves, no rhythm, that I was an absolute disaster on the dance floor but now they’re really getting into it.
"They’re on the phone throughout the day on Sunday saying they can’t wait to see me dance, they don’t want to see any hints of rehearsal videos. They want it to be a big surprise on Sunday, they’re all out there supporting and getting friends and family to vote for us. They’re so supportive."
Dancing With The Stars continues at 6.30pm this Sunday on RTÉ One
