Sky-high hair, fluttering lashes and three inches on sequins is far from unusual fare for Panti Bliss, so it's no surprise her debut on Dancing with the Stars was a sight to behold.
Panti – the stage name for Rory O'Neill, performer and owner of hotspots Pantibar and Pennylane – put in a showstopping performance for her first dance, making history in the process by being part of the first same-sex dance couple on Dancing with the Stars.
This was "one of the big reasons" she took the job, she said, minutes after coming off stage for Sunday night's show. "They'd asked me a few times before but ... I'm a very busy pretend woman, but this year a few things aligned."
Having a same-sex partner was her condition for agreeing to the show, she says. "Somehow it seems silly for me not to, of all people."
As for Panti's dance partner, Denys Samson, he says he knew the pairing would be a challenge but "I have zero regrets. I'm super happy. I'm super proud and I'm looking forward for this beautiful, amazing journey with this go hálainn lady".
Not content just to be a "pretend woman" dancing with another man, Panti plans to dance out of drag for at least one performance, a significant choice and a deeply personal one. "I want there to be two boys dancing together in people's living rooms at 6:30pm", she said. "I think that's kind of important in this age to not have the faffery around it."
As for why she didn't choose to perform out of drag from the beginning, Panti explained: "Because Panty is the performer more than Rory is. This is how I feel comfortable performing.
"Honestly, this is an extra hassle. I have spent hours doing my own makeup, padding, and corsetry. I have the insoles of shoes under my corset because I've been in this corset since 11:00am this morning, so it was like, blistering. Panti's just more fun than Rory generally, except in this week where we're going to do two boys. It's going to be great."
If you thought Dancing with the Stars glam was extravagant, it's small fry to Panti, who has perfected her signature beauty look over years of performing. This makes her a pro at two things: painting her face and making it stay put for hours.
The entire process takes at least two and a half hours, if not three if they're going, she says. "All the pro ladies look like drag queens anyway", she quipped.
"Drag makeup is a sort of a specialised form of makeup and so most beauty makeup artists would struggle and also I'm not sure that I trust anybody else. I know my face so I'm doing all that myself. Usually in my regular life, I do my own wigs and everything, but that's just another huge thing to have to worry about, and there's enough going on with the training and all that."
As for the oodles of sequins, Panti said "the girls in costume are thrilled to be able to put even more stones and beading on everything. This is what I eat breakfast in, this kind of thing!"
"It's not exactly comfortable, though", she added.
Shimmying between her bars is far removed from waltzing or knocking out a samba, but Panti said she's been enjoying it so far, gruelling training and all. "At the end of every run I am gasping for breath and doing it in a corset doesn't help either because you can't get a good, deep breath.
"One of the reasons I agreed to do it is because people said I'd get skinny again because I piled on the weight over lockdown for the first time in my life, and thought, oh, it'll all fall off when I get my life back. But it turns out, at 54 it doesn't all just fall off anymore when you get your life back. I'm already getting a bit trimmer from the training, so long may that continue."
Being in a same-sex dance couple makes some things easier Panti said. "No matter how you cut it, there is a slight weirdness when there's a straight guy and a straight girl.
"Maybe there's a partner at home who's not exactly 100% thrilled about it or you have to go and spend hours and hours and hours alone and it's easier to get it wrapped around each other. And from the first minute, you just have to throw yourself into this person's arms and get over it.
"Whereas us, he's a big straight bloke, I'm a gay twice his age, so we are just having an absolute laugh and no weirdness."
Every dancer needs their support system driving them on, and while Panti joked that "normally my family don't give a crap about any of the stuff I do", she said everyone cheered her on. "I am surprised at how many people want to come and be in the audience. People really get into this."
Watch Dancing with the Stars on Sundays at 6:30pm on RTÉ One.
