There’s a stark fade to black for the singer Brian Kennedy as movie night on Dancing with the Stars (RTÉ One, Sunday, 6.30pm) sees him become the second contestant eliminated from the 2026 contest.
Kennedy and his pro partner, Jamie Cutler, receive the heave-ho from the voting public at the end of an emotive and enjoyable episode that celebrates such cinematic milestones as The Commitments, Superman and, erm, The Flintstones. Yabba dabba don’t, as someone should have told RTÉ.
“I had so much fun,” says Kennedy, who dresses as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera (is that a film?) to perform a paso doble that earns a rock-bottom 15 points.
“Paso is based on a march, not a walk, and you looked like you went on a Sunday stroll during that,” Brian Redmond says. “I needed a little bit more,” his fellow judge Karen Byrne agrees – but there will be no more from Kennedy, a good sport during his time on the show but not a natural groover.
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The other straggler is the Traitors star Paudie Moloney, dancing with Laura Nolan to that Flintstones-themed Charleston. It’s a Stone Age performance, and he scores just one point more than Kennedy. “A few dodgy swivels, but it was bags of fun,” Byrne says, living up to her billing as the most positive of the judges.
Topping the leader board are the Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins and Leonardo Lini, who deliver a scintillating American smooth to Whistle While You Work, from Snow White. The Rose is in bloom as she earns raves from the adjudicators – and a score of 35. “This is exactly what movie night is all about. I was just sitting back and enjoying it,” Byrne says.
The Apprentice star Jordan Dargan and Rebecca Scott take second place. Dargan was alarmed to hear last week that he was to attempt a Vietnamese waltz, but he’s more at home with a contemporary ballroom to the Avatar movie theme. He bags 34 points. “Like something you deliver in the final,” Oti Mabuse, the head judge, says. In contrast to his stint on The Apprentice, it’s obvious that Dargan isn’t going to be fired from Dancing with the Stars any time soon.
Also showing a dramatic improvement is the podcaster Amber Wilson, who has grown into the contest. Her contemporary ballroom to For Good, from Wicked, is well received, earning her a respectable 22.
She survives to pirouette another day, but sadly the flying monkeys have come for Kennedy, who has to sit through the final credits just three episodes in.
For the remaining contestants, the fun of movie night is over, and the real work begins. The business end of the contest awaits as they hope to keep defying gravity.
