Dancing With the Stars finalist Katelyn Cummins will be straight back into her busy Rose of Tralee duties the morning after this Sunday's glitterball final - but her job as an apprentice electrician is still on hold for now.
The 20-year-old, who hails from Ballyouskill on the Laois/Kilkenny border, is the current Rose after her victory in Kerry last August and last Sunday she and her dance partner Leonardo Lini secured a place in the DWTS final alongside Tolü Makay and Maciej Zięba, Paudie Moloney and Laura Nolan, and Eric Roberts and Arianna Favaro.
She is also on a break from her career as a trainee sparks until October but as soon as she sashays off the dance floor on Sunday, she returns to her Rose of Tralee schedule with events in New York and Texas.
"The day after the final, I am flying out to New York for the St Patrick’s Day parade with the Rose of Tralee, the Roses and escorts," she says.
"I am in New York for four days, Texas for three for the Texas Rose selection, then I’m heading up to Nashville for four days and then I’m in Canada for four days . . . "
Katelyn first got the call inviting her to take part in DWTS last September. "This was six weeks after I’d won Rose of Tralee and I was working but I made the decision that day to pause my apprenticeship because I’d have to move to Dublin and I wanted to give everything to Dancing With the Stars.
"Literally that day I went into my boss and said, 'I’m after being asked to do Dancing With the Stars and I think I’ll have to move to Dublin so I don’t think I’ll be able to come into work In December, January, February and March . . . ‘"
"And he said, ‘Oh, no problem’. They have been so supportive in work."
Sparks will fly when Katelyn and Leonardo, who is nursing a dislocated thumb, return to the dancefloor on Sunday following their stellar performance in the semi-final.
The couple scored a perfect score of 40, which earned them a standing ovation from hard to please judge Brian Redmond, with fellow judge Oti Mabuse adding that the couple had given the "dance of the season" with their 1920s-themed Charleston.
"It was unbelievable," Katelyn says. "We had a tough week with Leonardo’s injury but we just pushed on and gave it everything we could."
Leonardo added, "We had two really tough days this week to learn with not much time but Katelyn did really well. We needed time to recover but she still did a great job."
Katelyn and Leonardo have emerged as firm favourites to win the glitterball trophy and they remain quietly confident ahead of this week’s showdown on the dancefloor.
"We would love to win. It’s a dream of ours now that we have got this far," Katelyn says. "We would love to win. To lift the glitterball on Sunday would be such a pay-off for all the hard work and determination."
And they know who their main competition is, especially after his eye-popping trio dance performance last Sunday . . .
"I definitely think Paudie is competition and he has a serious amount of public votes and a great public following and overall he is such a lovely person." Katelyn says.
She also paid tribute to her grandparents, Fabian and Mary, who were amateur ballroom dancers.
"I only learned this recently but my grandad and my granny were ballroom dancers and they would compete. My grandad passed away about a year and a half ago but to know that he is up there watching and to know that he is proud is amazing."
The final of Dancing with the Stars airs this Sunday on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player at 6.30pm
