David Whelan: 'I'm stronger than I thought I was'

Dancing with the Stars finalist David Whelan has said he’s learned that he’s stronger than he thought he was after a gruelling three months competing on the show.

"I'm stronger than I thought I was, both mentally and physically," he said, speaking to RTÉ.ie Entertainment ahead of this weekend's Dancing with the Stars' grand finale. "It’s not easy learning a very complicated routine in five days and going on national TV on Sunday and dancing in front of everybody. It’s not that easy."

"I was out of my comfort zone and I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I’ve learned that I’m a lot stronger than I give myself credit for.

"I’ve come out the other side and I think I’m stronger now than I was when I came in," he said.

Speaking of the two dances he'll perform in the final, he is enthusiastic about the judges’ choice piece in particular – his Pulp Fiction-inspired jive. "We get to do our movie week dance again, our jive, which we’re so excited for because that was my favourite dance."

For his and pro partner Salome Chachua’s final performance of the series, their showdance, they have decided to do a contemporary dance to All That Really Matters by ILLENIUM and Teddy Swims.

With the eyes of the country watching, he appears to have the pre-final nerves very much in check. "I’m kind of calmer this time around. I don’t feel as much added pressure," he said.

"Obviously week to week there was pressure to stay in the competition on a Sunday, and now we’ve made it all the way.

"So in a way I kind of feel like we’re winners, ‘cause we’ve got to dance 11 weeks, we’ve got to learn 11 different dances, we’re still here... I don’t really feel that much pressure."

Despite only having one day off over the past few months, the Wild Youth musician Whelan plans to get right back into the music studio next week and get making music once more. "I used this time to not do music and refresh... now I feel that I’m good to go again," he said, adding that he hopes to plan a holiday soon too.

He has hopes of keeping up dancing, possibly in a dance class, but that it won’t be the same without the expert tuition of Chachua, with whom he credits for teaching him "resilience" throughout the whole process.

She in turn credits him with teaching her about how "powerful" it can to work as a team, and says he is "obviously very talented" as a dancer. Whelan reveals that he may now incorporate more dance into his music career: "We'll see what happens after - I won't be getting taught by the best though, that's the only problem!" he laughs.

On who his biggest challenger is for this week’s final, he said, "It’s anyone’s game. You cannot tell!

"I’m honestly not thinking about it. It sounds clichéd but I think I’ve won already in my mind – we've come this far, I’m happy with what I've done. I’m proud of it.

"If I lift the Glitterball, that’s the cherry on top," he finished.

Dancing with the Stars: The Final airs on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player this Sunday 17 March.