Eileen Dunne may not be topping the judges’ leaderboard on Dancing with the Stars but she’s topping the viewers’!
The former RTÉ News presenter is taking it all in her stride as she is “going the whole hog” during her time on the show.
Speaking to VIP Magazine about her decision to join the show, she admits that it was a long time coming.
In fact, she reveals that when she went to visit her play Mary Kennedy during her time on Dancing with the Stars “it had been mentioned to me that maybe I should go on it someday”.
“I’m a huge fan, I love watching Strictly and Dancing with the Stars since it went on the air. It was just trying to figure out the right time, and then I thought ‘Let’s have a go because if I don’t do it now.’.”
Of course, seeing the usually serious and demure Eileen Cha-Chaing to Jennifer Lopez was a bit of a shock. But Eileen says that’s “the whole point”.
“I think that’s one of the reasons why I was asked to do it,” she confesses as to getting to see a very different side to her.
“After talking to Mary [Kennedy] and Aengus [Mac Grianna] and some of the others, they said if you’re going to do it, you might as well go the whole hog. So I decided whatever they want me to do, I’ll do. I haven’t had to say no yet!”
That’s what led to her now iconic ponytail!
“It helped me get into the JLo zone. Someday over lunch, someone mentioned the JLo ponytail and I thought that I should probably get a ponytail,” she laughs.
“So we sent it to them and I’d say Caroline almost had a heart attack because I have really fine hair. But we tried it out on the Saturday rehearsals and it worked.”
We can’t wait to see what she’s up to this week!
Dancing with the Stars continues on RTÉ One on Sunday at 6:30pm
