I’m no victim and I’m not sour either
Holly Carpenter was disappointed to leave DWTS, but she holds no grudge
MODEL Holly Carpenter insists she has not been a victim of unfair marking, or social media bullying, following her exit from Dancing With the Stars.
Holly, 27, had initially been tipped to go far in the dancing competition but was unexpectedly voted off in just the second week of the dance-offs, after getting the second lowest score last Sunday.
She was subjected to a barrage of nasty comments about her ‘sour’ face after she failed to win enough support from the TV audience to stay in for the next round.
Judge Brian Redmond also said Holly had looked more like ‘a model on a catwalk’ than a dancer.
But Holly says she was unfazed by the comments, though she was incredibly disappointed.
‘I didn’t care about social media, to be honest. I was disappointed and my face showed that. But was I going to jump up and down and start crowd surfing? What did they expect?’
However, much of the online commentary was supportive of Holly, with some viewers feeling she should still be in the show.
She said: ‘I was hugely disappointed. I was really determined to make it far in the show. You can’t really plan for getting kicked off so early.
‘Obviously you have to respect what the judges say, and they are really qualified, but I did feel at times that they were a bit hard on me and a bit hard on a few people, not just me.
‘I would never come out of something and say, “I’m a victim here”. I only ever got fives and sixes and there were times I was hoping for more. They can be a bit inconsistent with their scoring. I still felt that I would have more time to show I was improving.’
Her parents, Karl and Jane, were in the audience last week and Holly said she couldn’t look at her dad for fear of crying.
‘My mam and dad were in the audience and they were gutted for me. I couldn’t look at my dad in case I started crying. It has been a big knock; the last week has been tough.’
Her return to the screen has given her the television bug again and she is on the look-out for a presenting role. She is also throwing her energy into her jewellery and handbag business, LoveLift. She said: ‘I am just going to put my focus on LoveLift. But I would love to do a bit more work and try and get into presenting again. When you are in that atmosphere, you kind of get the bug again.’ Holly will be back in the audience next week to see the rest of the troupe compete for the trophy. She thinks country music singer Cliona Hagan could be the first girl to take the glitterball.
She said: ‘She has a lot of support from the country and western scene, and I would expect to see Johnny Ward in the final.’