The man with the mullet has spoken. Former Irish international rugby player Shane Byrne gave his prediction today for the winner of this year's Dancing with the Stars. The Wicklow man was speaking to Ryan Tubridy, following his exit from the competition on Sunday. It took a bit of coaxing from Ryan, but Shane finally revealed his pick: Kevin. There was no moving his pro partner Karen Byrne – she held back on predicting who she thinks will lift the DWTS glitterball trophy in a few weeks’ time; but she had plenty to say about Shane’s dance moves and his special gift to DWTS: the Mullet Wheel.
The pair were in flying form as they chatted to Ryan in studio about how much they loved being on the show. Karen and Shane were the 5th celebrity couple to leave the show. Shane says he has no regrets, in spite of being reluctant to take up the offer to be in the competition. Shane says his twin daughters gave him no choice:
"I’ve been asked to do this, but I dunno… and they went 'You’re doing it.’ And I went, no, hang on, I’m kinda busy… ‘No, no, no. You’re doing it.' And the girls were like, ‘I can wear this dress on the first night and this on the second,’ So that was it, I was doing it."
Pro-partner Karen was blunt about her low expectations of Shane, but she says she was pleasantly surprised:
"I wasn’t expecting much dancing ability. I’m not gonna lie. Sure I think I told you that after we first met. But after our first rehearsal, I remember going home being actually to Jake, this fella can actually dance!"
Karen says she taught Shane a routine on the first day, fully expecting him to have forgotten most of it, but the following day, he could do the whole thing:
"I thought, hang on now, this is too good to be true. Then I’d throw stuff at him every routine and I’d say can you do this, this? And he’d say, ‘No, I can’t, but sure I’ll give it a go.' And there he was, cartwheeling, tumbling, the whole shebang."
Shane is pretty modest about his now legendary cartwheels. Karen says he was sensational:
"When I saw him do one, I said hang on a minute, can you do another one?! He did another one, and I said, hang on, can you do three? Three – three of them! I just remember that night, the whole crowd was literally in awe. The whole internet went wild."
Shane says he and his wife Caroline were rarely off the dance floor back in their clubbing days, but he says the work involved in DWTS is next level:
"Myself and the missus would always be up dancing around the place, but that’s completely different to what this is – one has nothing to do with the other!"
What sort of response had he got from his local community and beyond, Ryan wanted to know? Shane says he was blown away by the reaction:
"Incredible. The reach of the show is just incredible."
Shane says it felt like everywhere he went, people had seen the show:
"Everywhere I went and like, obviously through work and things like that, I’d be going to places where you wouldn’t expect it. Everywhere – construction sites. All the lads shouting down, ‘Do the mullet wheel!’"
Ah yes, the famous mullet. Ryan says he’s impressed at its longevity – it’s been around so long that it’s actually come back into fashion. Shane says he doesn’t care either way: he’s chosen his look and he’s sticking with it:
"The problem is that when it goes back out of fashion, I’ll never change it. I’m a rocker at heart."
For Shane and Karen’s no-holds barred analysis of Sunday’s performances, listen back to the full interview with Ryan Tubridy here.