Forget about the cold snap – temperatures are rising on Dancing with the Stars Ireland (RTÉ One, Sunday, 6.30pm), where the new head judge, Oti Mabuse, has already found her nemesis in the returning adjudicator Brian Redmond. “Don’t listen to them,” Mabuse says after Redmond critiques the influencer and radio broadcaster Eric Roberts for giving it too much, too soon. “I love it!”
It’s a heated disagreement in an otherwise chummy first outing for Mabuse, who won the 2020 edition of the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing with Bill Bailey. Mabuse, who replaces Loraine Barry, is not yet quite as authoritative as her predecessor, but it’s a solid debut. She already has good chemistry with her fellow judges Karen Byrne and Arthur Gourounlian, while her fire-and-brimstone back-and-forth with Redmond promises plenty of spark in the months ahead.
The other new face this year is the radio host and former Dancing with the Stars finalist Laura Fox, stepping in for Doireann Garrihy during her maternity leave. Having performed on the show herself, Fox understands the task at hand and, straight out of the gate, has an easy rapport with her cohost, Jennifer Zamparelli.
That said, their wardrobe game could be stronger. During the opening song-and-dance number, their shimmering outfits and fixed stares make them look like a glitzy version of the spooky twins from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.
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In contrast to the costumes, the 2026 celebrity line-up is a little short on glitter. There’s the usual grab bag of former athletes, a few singers and actors, plus the obligatory novelty contestant of a certain age, there mainly for name recognition.
This year that honour goes to The Traitors’ Paudie Moloney, introduced in a fun clip in which he returns to the Traitors castle at Slane and announces, “Honey, I’m home!”
His actual performance, a cha-cha with the pro dancer Laura Nolan, is all vim and little skill, and he’s politely savaged by the judges. Byrne dubs him “Paudie Swayze”, but his dancing is more dodgy than dirty, and Redmond hands him a bare-minimum two stars.
By the end credits, Paudie props up the leaderboard with 13 points. In first place is the Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins, who delivers a scorching tango with the new pro hoofer Leonardo Lini to Taylor Swift’s The Fate of Ophelia. She earns a hot streak of votes to score an impressive 31. That puts her just ahead of Eric Roberts and Arianna Favaro, on 29, and the Apprentice contestant Jordan Dargan and Rebecca Scott, on 28.
Down in the basement, Vogue Williams’s sister, Amber Wilson, looks visibly ill at ease as she performs a cha-cha with Alex Vladimirov. They’re the first all-female couple on Dancing with the Stars Ireland, but there’s little historic about the dance itself, which leaves the judges unimpressed – though they do their best to be supportive. “I feel there’s a lot of self-doubt,” Mabuse says. “Come back and blow our socks off.”
Nobody’s socks will have been blown off by Sunday evening’s opener, but it’s a fun return. Mabuse slips neatly into the swing of things, and her early disagreements with Redmond suggest further drama down the line. On a freezing cold night the good news is that, line-up changes notwithstanding, Dancing with the Stars is still hot to trot.
