Dancing with the Stars returns with its annual Dedicated Dance Week on Sunday night, giving the remaining celebrities a chance to share the personal story behind their routine.
For Nationwide presenter Anne Cassin, that story centres on her late mother, Nancy, who died just weeks after Cassin gave birth to her first child.
Cassin and her professional partner, Robert Rowiński, will dance an American Smooth to Don't Stop by Fleetwood Mac, a song Cassin says brings her back to childhood memories. The programme’s Dedicated Dance Week format includes no elimination, although one couple will earn immunity from the following week’s first dance-off.
Speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, Cassin said she wanted this week’s routine to be "more personal", and that the obvious choice was her mother, who she said has been gone for 27 years. But, she added, her mother’s influence has remained constant.
"She has been a person, in terms of humanity and values, and how she raised the five of us has really shaped the person I have become," Cassin said, describing the dance as a way to pay tribute.
While Dedicated Dance Week is designed to open up a different side of each contestant, Cassin said it was also a personal milestone she had hoped to reach in the competition.
Watch: Anne Cassin and Robert Rowiński perform a Quickstep to Val Doonican's Ann.
"I wanted to get to Dedicated Dance Week as it is a chance for people to reveal a little bit more about themselves," she said, adding that it gives viewers a sense of someone’s story, whether it is something personal or an issue they want to highlight.
Even with no one going home this week, Cassin said the nerves do not disappear. "The pressure is always the next dance," she said. "The easiest dance is the one you have just done, and the hardest one is the one you are about to do. You still want to do as well as you possibly can. It is nice to know no one is going home."
The American Smooth routine also comes with "lots of lifts" in the choreography, though Cassin joked she is not worried about being lifted, as long as she gets back down with a bit of style: "I am not at all bothered about being lifted, I just want to descend elegantly."
Cassin also spoke about adjusting to life on the other side of the interview. As a long-time presenter and reporter, she said she is used to drawing stories out of other people, not being the story herself.
"Initially, this whole journey on this programme, I was not used to being the subject. I am normally the one asking the questions," she said. "So I have made the adjustment, and I am totally embracing it."
Watch: Anne Cassin and Robert Rowiński perform a Cha Cha Cha to Fame.
That openness extends to the judges’ feedback, she said, even when it stings a little. Cassin said she and Rowiński listen carefully, and she tries to take comments "with an open mind", while acknowledging that you do not want to leave the floor "completely deflated".
Rowiński, meanwhile, praised Cassin’s approach to rehearsals, telling RTÉ Entertainment: "I never worked with anyone as professional in my life." He also said her interviewing style has had an unexpected side effect: "The words she uses, she has a beautiful vocabulary which she makes me learn. My English has greatly improved!"
Away from the ballroom, Cassin said she has been taken aback by the reaction from friends and family, including messages from old school friends and people she was in college with.
"The reaction has been amazing and surprising, and it has been very uplifting and heartwarming," she said, adding that she has been "flabbergasted" and "overwhelmed" by the positivity, and that the odd bit of recognition on the street has been a lovely boost during a demanding rehearsal schedule.
She also said taking part was a family decision, and that she spoke to her husband and children before accepting. With her children now adults, Cassin said they are at a stage where they are "very proud" of her, which is part of why it felt like the right time to say yes after turning the show down previously.
"I was approached before [when] they were at a stage in life when they were absolutely mortified at their mother doing something," she said, adding: "They are so proud of me now."
Cassin said her husband has been "very generous", taking over the day-to-day jobs at home while she commits to the show. "I have been let off dog walking, cooking, hoovering, and cleaning the house," she said. "He has been really supportive. He has been a rock for me to do this."
Dancing with the Stars, Sundays, RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, 6:30pm.
