Olympian Philip Doyle said he was "jinxed" on the night he was voted off Dancing with the Stars, joking that he would "blame it all on the shoelaces" after they came undone during the live show.
Doyle found himself in the dance-off after the judges' scores were combined with the public vote, and said that on a competitive night anything below the mid-30s can leave couples vulnerable.
"The shoelaces never come undone," Doyle said speaking to RTÉ Entertainment after the show.
"Someone said to me before you go, make sure your shoelaces are done. And I said, sure, they’ve never come undone. And then sure, afterwards, they were undone - the first time ever!"
The Olympic rower also suggested a haircut might not have helped his fortunes, laughing: "I cut my curls off yesterday and think that also didn't help!"
Reflecting on the judges’ scores and the dance-off, Doyle, who scored 31, said he felt the pair had been left vulnerable on a strong night.
"I think when you come up against the likes of tonight, when you’re not scoring above 35 points, you’re going to be in the danger zone," he said.
And then unfortunately we ended up against Tolü who just had a fantastic dance. To be fair, all the competition was very strong this evening, so going up against anybody, it would have been, you know, an honour."
Doyle described the show as a tougher mental challenge than many expected, admitting that taking on a new skill later in life was demanding.
"Honest answer. This was mentally very challenging," he said when asked how it compared to training for the Olympics. "Mentally very challenging to learn a new skill is so hard. And like I’m not 15 anymore, so learning a new skill is tough."
His dance partner Daniela Roze said his sporting background brought its own challenges, adding that he had "so many years of rowing to undo in a very short amount of time".
Doyle agreed, saying: "Genuinely, like just learning new body patterns. You get so stuck in your ways as an athlete, and you get so used to how your body moves in one particular way. Rowing is a closed sport. It’s not an open skill… my rhythm and my footwork let me down a little bit."
Roze praised his work ethic, saying he was "the most hardworking person I’ve probably ever met" after pushing through "aches and pains and injuries" during the series.
Asked what he would take away from the experience, Doyle joked: "About 17 pairs of shoes!"
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