Demi gets the boot after ‘stepping out of my comfort zone’

It was the first dance off of the series and, alas for Demi, she was on the wrong side of the judges. The unlucky celeb facing the dreaded dance-off with her was comedian Fred Cooke.

Demi said she had “stepped out of her my comfort zone” by taking part in the show and wanted to inspire young girls to follow their dreams.

It was a surprising result as Demi had one of her strongest performances of the series. Praised by Darren Bennett as an “enigmatic performer”, he said it was her best ballroom dance of the show. Loraine Barry said the actor had taken “an 18th- century dance and brought it into this century”.

Fred, although he was in the dance-off, might have been the standout performer of the night — scoring a very solid 24 points. Brian, one of the hardest men to impress, felt it was one of Fred’s best dances and the loudest cheer he’d heard in three years of the show.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be here for three years and that was the loudest cheer I’ve heard from the audience,” he said. “I actually think that was better than your Charleston.”

First up on the night was Clelia Murphy dancing the cha cha cha to a bit of Tom Jones. Always a solid performer, she scored an impressive 23 points.

For Loraine, the dance helped ease her frustrations about the dance this season.

“Well, this cha cha cha has frustrated me this season but not after tonight,” she said. “It was easy to identify the cha cha movements... you’re a sensuous, sultry lady doing a cha cha.”

Top of the pack last night was Johnny Ward, who danced a rumba with his partner Emily Barker to ‘Say You Won’t Let Go’ by James Arthur. Earning 27 points from the judges, it was one of the Fair City actor’s strongest performances of the series.

For Brian, it was one of the best he’d seen in a while in terms of the rumba.

“For me, rumba is all about the leg action,” he said. “Three years now I’ve been looking at rumba and I’ve never seen a male celebrity give me a leg action. Absolutely phenomenal. All you need to do is focus on the technique, don’t worry about acting it.”

Another man who bolted from the pack this week was former Munster and Ireland rugby legend Peter Stringer, who racked up 25 points for a Charleston to Paolo Nutini’s ‘Pencil Full of Lead’.

For Brian, this was Stringer’s “best dance so far”, while Loraine said the dance was full of “innuendo” before praising the former scrumhalf’s “superb” lifts.

Country singer Cliona Hagan is also emerging as a favourite to take the Glitter Ball trophy this year.

After scoring the first 10 of the series last week, she followed up with a strong showing again this week, even if she didn’t hit the same high notes as last week.

Taking on the tango with partner Robert Rowinski she earned a 25 from the judges who liked but didn’t love the performance.

Another week and another celeb falls by the wayside. The pressure will only increase from here.