Rosanna Davison has said she has "no regrets" after exiting Dancing with the Stars, saying it has been an "absolutely life-changing" experience.
The former Miss World and her pro-partner Stephen Vincent were eliminated in Sunday night's Orchestra Week special after facing off against Katja Mia and Ervinas Merfeldas in the dance-off, with all three judges choosing to save Mia and Merfeldas.
Davison, who is mother to three-year-old twin boys Hugo and Oscar and four-year-old daughter Sophia, said that she felt the time was right for her to depart the competition, as her children have been "really missing" her.
Speaking to Jennifer Zamparelli on 2fm on Monday morning, she said: "I've just been feeling more mentally tired this week.
"It's the juggle between having three little children at home who really need me and then getting to rehearsals every day filming. The schedule is intense during the week and learning a new dance from scratch and then the full-on weekend Saturday and Sunday.
"I've just been feeling that my children have been really missing me. Wes (Quirke, husband) has been great looking after them at weekends, but I was feeling more mum guilt this week.
"I felt last week I hit a wall on Thursday; there were tears in rehearsals for the first time because the routine wasn't clicking as quickly as I'd expected.
"I felt I was coming to the end mentally of how far I could push myself. I have no regrets, I gave it my best shot."
Her pro-partner Vincent complimented his celebrity dance partner's work ethic, saying: "You worked really hard, I think you surprised yourself. You put in an incredible amount of hours, I was struggling to keep up!"
Davison expanded on the pressures of the competition, saying: "On top of the hours, it's very hard to switch off from thinking about your routine. I'd wake up in the night thinking about my steps. I'd go home and do my homework and take notes about the routine. I'd think about it all morning, all evening. It's all-consuming.
"It absolutely takes over your life. It was absolutely life-changing. There's so much self-growth that happens throughout the whole process. I went in with very little confidence in my ability to dance and danced every weekend for eight weeks live on TV."
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment after her elimination from the competition, Davison spoke about how she felt "mentally drained" as she tried to juggle the demands of the show with young kids at home.
"It's the week I struggled, most definitely. I felt more emotionally up and down this week because I felt the strain with the children missing me and I just began to feel mentally drained this week to be perfectly honest," she shared.
"It's a big commitment. For the contestants without children, it was still a massive commitment. I've been waking up at 5am - sometimes 4am - with the kids, getting them to school in the morning, getting home after the show, you know, packing lunch boxes and doing the laundry. It's been mentally and physically draining."
She added: "I feel really happy that it's probably the right time for me to get back to my family and they're my priority."
Davison reflected on her competition highlight and said it was her Rumba to Lady in Red during the Dedicated Dance Week.
She said: "That was a really special night and probably my aim was to get to Dedicated Dance Night and then see what happens from there. So to get to Orchestra Night with only a few weeks to go is a dream come true."
The 39-year-old model said she was going to "miss the whole experience" of taking part in the competition, but that she was looking forward to a bit of downtime.
She told Zamparelli of her plans for the rest of Monday: "I will probably go home, put on my pyjamas and slippers and get some rest. I haven't had a day off since sometime in October!"
Dancing with the Stars continues on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player from 6.30pm next Sunday.
