‘Notorious’ has ringside seat to cheer on Erin
■ Maia is third dancer to exit show amid claims of very harsh marking
UFC champion Conor McGregor is not used to sitting ringside.
But last night, the champion fighter and his partner Dee Devlin jetted in from New
York to Ardmore to cheer on his elder sister Erin in ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
The mum-of-two was delighted to have ‘The Notorious’ and Co in the crowd.
“It’s amazing having such a great support system whether he is here or not here, he is still behind me 100pc,” said Erin.
Sadly, Conor didn’t hang about too long after the dance-athon – probably all that jet lag. However, he did tell reporters: “I am so proud of her” as he darted out the doors.
Last night, Maia Dunphy became the third contestant to waltz off the show. “I am very disappointed,” she said afterwards.
Many viewers felt the judges were unduly harsh in their marking of Maia’s routine.
“I don’t like starting conspiracy theories and you don’t want to be a bad loser,” Maia said afterwards. “But Twitter was ablaze with it. When you work hard, it is a knock but it is nice that people think we were harshly scored.”
She added: “People say you have to be more confident, but if someone is giving you low scores and criticising you, it chips away at your confidence – you have to build yourself back up every week.”
Maia thinks the rural vote may have been the reason for her departure.
“There’s no doubt there’s a tribal element to it... I think regional audiences tend to support their own slightly more, but it sounds like I’m a sore loser.”
Asked if she would keep dancing, she replied: “Maybe in my kitchen.”
Star of the night was a shirtless Jake Carter who did a Contemporary Ballroom to ‘Sign of the Times’ by Harry Styles and received a standing ovation.
Marty Morrissey was hoping to edge out of the relegation zone with an energetic Charleston. Sadly, it wasn’t to be and he was bottom of the leaderboard for the third week running with 12 points.
“Could we simplify things?” judge Loraine Barry said afterwards. While Julien Benson recommended Marty down a few “double espressos to get your feet moving”.
But thankfully for voters, everyone’s favourite dancers Marty and comedian Bernard O’Shea sailed through the eliminations unscathed.
Camogie player Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington beat the curse of the Paso Doble when she danced to David Guetta’s ‘Titanium’. The sultry dance is hard to pull off, as former contestants Norah Casey and Tomás O’Leary can testify – both were booted off the programme following their performances.
But Anna managed to impress the audience and the judges.