Dancing with the Stars judge, Brian Redmond explained the extra pressure the dance-off is to judge. Sunday night’s show will see this year’s first dance-off, where two couples will be in the bottom two and have to compete against each other for a place in the show. While it is a lot of pressure for the contestants, it’s also the hardest job the judging panel face.
As Brian told the press, “there’s a huge responsibility giving the scores. There’s probably been three, maybe four dance-offs in all seasons of Dancing with the Stars up ’til now where it’s been a genuinely tough decision, and while I had an opinion one way or the other, sometimes they go the same way you would predict, sometimes they don’t.”
“But in those three or four examples, you couldn’t really argue one way or the other. Sometimes it’s a relatively easy decision and sometimes it’s a really difficult decision.”
Explaining that a decision during dance-offs is much more final than during a typical week. “Whatever about looking back at something from five years ago and saying, ‘Maybe that six could have been a seven’, you never want to look back at a dance-off because it’s so final.”
While both judges and contestants are dreading this week’s added challenge, there is one person who is able to relax. Former Love Island star Matthew MacNabb won immunity during the last show, meaning he won’t be eligible for the eliminations this week.
Matthew and pro-dancer Laura Nolan topped the leaderboard on Sunday night’s episode for the first time. It was ‘Dedicated Dance Week’ which meant that all the couples dedicated their performances to someone special in their lives.
They were the last to perform on the show this week, and Matthew dedicated their performance to his close friend, Ryan, who passed away last summer just days before he entered the Love Island villa.
The Down native has since taken to Instagram to share how much the performance meant to him saying; “When Ryan passed, I said I wish I could give him the celebration he deserves. Well last night, I did that and for me that meant more to me than anything else.”
“Since Ryan’s passing, I felt like I didn’t get the chance to process it properly. I didn’t have the mental space to go deep inside. Truth be told, I was using life to avoid experiencing those emotions. This dance allowed me to actually celebrate my friend and to thank him for the impact he had on my life.
“I could write about how special Ryan was and how much he meant to me but I think you all seen that in my dance last night. That was for him and all our friends in San Diego.”
“Ryan was with me last night, nobody can tell me otherwise. My heart is full.”
Words by Slaine McKenna