Maurizio Benenato is opening up about his exit from Dancing With The Stars.
The pro-dancer announced yesterday that he would exiting the series after three weeks on air, needing to flying home to Italy for personal reasons.
But this was no easy decision for the Latin and Ballroom champion. Telling The Irish Sun: “I want people to know it’s really painful. This has been the worst time of my life.”
“I don’t deserve this problem, I don’t deserve to be dealing with it. It is a terrible thing to have to leave the show like this. I was trying and trying to find a solution to a problem I had in Italy and I had to leave.”
Continuing: “It’s a private problem, I don’t want to talk about, I had to resolve and the reason I had to leave the show very quickly.”
Maurizio was paired with singer Brooke Scullion, with the pair topping the leader board since week one. The Italian also addressed having to leave Brooke with a new partner.
“It’s not nice for her. When I got the news from Italy, the production took care of me getting flights and I’m sure they are taking care of Brooke as well.”
“I know she is devastated as well, I am so grateful to the people on the show. Myself and Brooke were doing so well. But the last thing I am thinking about now is the show,” he explained.
It was revealed on last night’s show that former pro dancer Robert Rowiński will step into Maurizio’s shoes and partner up with singer Brooke for the rest of the series.
Robert was previously a pro on the RTÉ entertainment show between 2018 and 2020 so he is no stranger to how the competition works, making him a perfect match for Brooke!
Brooke and Robert performed the first Rumba of the season, which the Derry girl admitted she was “extremely worried” about. “The Rumba may actually kill me,” she joked.
However, the judges were once again impressed with Brooke’s dancing skills.
“I don’t think you realise how good that was,” expressed Brian, while Arthur added: “Hot hot hot!”
The pair took home not only the highest score of the night but this series so far with 26 points.
