Sunday can't come soon enough for Mickey Joe Harte as he looks forward to making his Dancing with the Stars debut.
The 51-year-old singer-songwriter is no stranger to TV competition, having entered and won the RTÉ talent contest You’re A Star, which led to him representing Ireland at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest.
He’s also featured on a couple of reality shows and, of course, given that he’s enjoyed a lengthy musical career, TV cameras are an occupational hazard.
But participating on Dancing with the Stars is a different ball game entirely.
After all, you’re learning how to tango and foxtrot in a very public place. Prime time Sunday evening on RTÉ One underneath the glitter ball and facing the likes of judges Brian Redmond and Loraine Barry is not for the faint-hearted. Or the flat-footed.
When the call came to offer him a place in the 2025 line-up, Harte had to think long and hard about it. The man's no mug.
"I had been sort of sounded out about this before, a few times," he recalls. "But I just never felt it was right. This year I was approached by Larry Bass [head of Shinawil, who produce the show]. I knew Larry from You’re a Star . . . and I’ve a lot of time and respect for Larry.
"I knew that if he was asking m that it was serious. And I think I was ready for it. A few years ago I wouldn’t have been - but it just felt a nice time to do it. I had a good think about it, process it and figure out if I really wanted to do it."
Age was another factor for the Lifford native. But this isn't some mid-life crisis or the musical equivalent of wanting to parachute out of a plane. Besides, doing a Paso Doble's a lot less dangerous an activity.
But he did feel it was an opportunity to move out of his comfort zone and try his hand - and feet - at something new. He's clearly enjoying this new and challenging experience.
"I’m 51 and I know it’s not that old, but it’s not young either," he insists. "And sometimes it’s good to tap in to a different part of your body and your psyche. It’s intense. It’s not like anything that I’ve ever done before. A different level of learning stuff and retaining stuff.
"Retaining songs and music, I’ve ben doing that all my life. But as I got older, retaining lyrics and things like that are becoming more difficult. I just wanted the challenge and it’s the right time . . . it’s a nice feeling."
Being a son, a husband, a father and a grandfather, Mickey Joe won’t be short of family support from Sunday on - but one particular member of his intergenerational clan was already addicted to Dancing with the Stars: his mother Finnuala.
"She loves the show," he says. "And she still dances herself. She’s 84. She loves dancing, loves the foxtrot and those kind of things. She watches it and sometimes I catch it myself when I visit her on Sunday evenings."
And as for seeing her own son on the show? "She is excited," says Mickey Joe. "She’s also nervous. I spoke to her last [Wednesday] night and she was very nervous."
And she’ll be watching keenly from her home in Donegal rather than joining the studio audience at Ardmore Studios in Bray, where Dancing with the Stars goes out live on Sundays.
Mickey Joe explains: "I had her at a show a few years ago . . . I can’t remember how long ago it is, and - to be honest - she enjoyed the experience but she much preferred being at home and being able to see it all.
"She said she didn’t see as much in the studio. And so she’s not pushed about coming to the studio, to be honest." Laughing, he adds: "I only get four tickets, so it’s one less problem for me to solve!"
Dancing with the Stars, Sundays at 6.30pm on RTÉ One
