Holly Carpenter couldn’t hide her disappointment after becoming the second celebrity eliminated from Dancing with the Stars.
The former Miss Ireland admitted she was “gutted” to have come to the end of the road but described her experience on the show as “amazing”.
It was a bit of a shock elimination for Movie Week as all three judges had praised her performance and while her 16 points moved her towards the bottom rather than the top of the leaderboard, she was clearly not the weakest performance of the night.
Movie Week is a staple of any Dancing with the Stars series, with the remaining celebs hoping for Oscar-winning performances rather than being a Razzies contender and getting the boot. Before the dancers even took to the floor, you could predict the movies and indeed some of the movie referencing comments. Beauty and the Beast — check. Top Gun — check.
Country singer Cliona Hagan kicked off the show dressed head to toe in pink to take on the role of Elle Woods in Legally Blonde. Cliona and her partner Robert Rowinski performed a jive to ‘Perfect Day’ and scored a strong 21 points
Overall, almost the ladies had strong nights, whereas it was the men who were left fighting for the bottom spot.
Denis Bastick, an All Ireland winner with Dublin, earned a miserly 14 points for his tango to ‘Danger Zone’ from the Tom Cruise classic Top Gun. The judges weren’t blown away, with Brian Redmond particularly unimpressed.
“I did hope you were going to be flying high tonight but I’m concerned you might be in the danger zone after that night,” he said.
However, it wasn’t the worst performance of the night. That honour went to comedian Fred Cooke. He was on a bit of a high after last week’s performance but he was brought back down to the earth with a mere 13 points.
Once again, the harshest comments were from Brian, who described his footwork for the American Smooth as “atrocious”.
“After the high of last week I expected more... every step on that was flat,” he said.
But there were rays of light amidst the darkness.
Fair City actress Clelia Murphy is becoming a fan and judge favourite. Along with partner Vitali Kozmin, she danced a salsa to ‘Night Fever’ from the movie Saturday Night Fever. The judges loved it, giving her a series high of 26 points.
Julian, as always, was most effusive in his praise for the performance.
“We got all the tricks... I loved that you took the original steps from the movie and used them ... salsa-licious! I loved it,” he said.
So, two down, just nine to go. And despite hitting all the right notes with their dancing, it’s the ladies that aren’t getting the love from the public. Two eliminations down and both have been ladies. The men, for good or for bad, have all survived the public votes.