Could Party Marty be the new Dancing Dessie? ... Or can he actually dance?
To be fair, he’s a better dancer’
HE is certainly no stranger to the limelight so Marty Morrissey should be right at home on RTÉ’s Dancing With The Stars.
The national broadcaster is putting the final touches to the line-up for the second series and organisers are hoping that the charismatic GAA commentator will help score points with the viewing public.
A retired Dublin footballer and an ex-rugby player are believed to be in talks with show executives.
2fm presenter and comedian Bernard O’Shea, TV3 presenter Anna Daly and radio presenter Doireann Garrihy – sister of last year’s contestant Aoibhín – are also names being predicted to take part. Brendan O’Carroll’s daughter Fiona was also believed to have been in talks to participate, while Love Island hunk and Instagram star Rob Lipsett was another said to be in the mix for the show.
Initially, the producers had been hopeful of getting Dee Devlin, MMA star Conor McGregor’s partner to take part in the show. But they settled on Conor’s stylish sister, Erin, when Dee politely declined.
The hairdresser, who is the eldest of the McGregor siblings, has a huge social media following and previously competed as a bodybuilder and worked as a fitness model.
And just as the mother-of-two has supported The Notorious through the years, it’s expected her famous brother will be happy to appear in the audience to cheer her on, on the show. A number of people, including DJ Ian Dempsey, singer Linda Martin and Dublin GAA stars Bernard and Alan Brogan, were approached to take part in the show but declined the offer.
However, there is little doubt that Marty Morrissey woiuld be the big-name RTÉ star on whom the series could be launched.
‘Marty will be like Des Cahill in that he will hopefully capture the public’s imagination’, a source told the Irish Daily Mail.
‘To be fair, he is a better dancer than Des, so he might have more of a future in the contest.’
The line-up will have to be a step up from last year but the casting worked, so it won’t be a huge shift.
‘Marty is a household name and I think he will be hard to beat in the contest,’ said the insider.
RTÉ has previously confirmed that a second series has been commissioned.
The reality show proved to be the TV hit of the year after pulling in an average audience of 584,000 over the 12 weeks. It proved a massive success, with competitors including Aoibhín Garrihy, Katherine Lynch, Des Cahill, Des Bishop and the eventual winner Kerry footballer Aidan O’Mahony.
A spokesperson for RTÉ said yesterday: ‘The line-up for Dancing With The Stars hasn’t been confirmed and we don’t comment on speculation.’