RTE radio star Carl Mullan has admitted taking part in Dancing With The Stars is just as scary as waiting to hear the 2FM Breakfast show's listenership figures.
The dad-of-one hosts the popular morning show with Donncha O'Callaghan and Doireann Garrihy, who is also host of the glitzy Sunday night entertainment show.
But Carl - who is dancing with pro dance partner Emily Barker on the show - admitted dancing on live TV is just as scary as waiting to find out how many listeners the show has in two weeks at the JNLRs.
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He told us: "They are both terrifying. Of course. The JNLRs - that is a huge part of the business. I suppose we’ve been lucky that in the last year, they’ve been going well. At the end of the day you have to pay attention to them.
“For us it is about if they don’t go in the right direction, right what do we need to work on and that has happened to us on the breakfast show where the numbers wouldn’t be going in the right direction. You just take a step back as a team and go right, what is not working, what can we do better."
He joked that his colleague and former rugby star Donncha hates "positive feedback", praising him for helping make the trio better.
“Donncha is brilliant for that. Donncha actually hates positive feedback. He’s used to it from the rugby. He wants to know what’s wrong and he’s very good at helping us channel that into making ourselves better.
“Anyone who says they are not worried about it; I think they’re probably lying. Anyone in any job, you want to be performing and you want to be the best version of yourself. I think for us as a breakfast show, we are really happy because we can stand over the work that we put into it."
But Carl admitted that he knows the time will come when 2FM Breakfast ends but he isn't worried about the 2 Johnnies taking their place.
“And look, it’ll happen. Like one day we’ll be told we’re finished but for me whenever that day comes, I’ll know but we put everything into it.”
“Absolutely not (worried about the 2 Johnnies taking their slot). But if they did, they would do a great job of it. So no. Things change and it is about just living in the moment. I know I’ll look back whenever this part of my life finishes and I move onto other things, I know I’ll look back very fondly because to get to go in and do the breakfast show and have a laugh with your mates and then you get to go rehearsing with Emily, learn a new dance and then do this on a Sunday night – it’s class.”
Carl and Emily scored 20 points on the show on Sunday night for their samba - and Carl said he is enjoying every minute of it.
"We were delighted because at the start of the week I was saying to Emily, right I need to psych myself up for the week from hell because it was samba. I was told it was the celebrity killer and it was the hardest dance but actually I really enjoyed it this week.
“There was an element for me this week where I thought alright you could just be booted off at any time and wouldn’t it be awful to look back on it and think to myself that I should’ve enjoyed that more so I just tried to enjoy it more.”
And he revealed he is shedding the pounds on the dance floor.
“I must’ve lost half a stone already. This is probably TMI (too much information) but the other day I got out of the shower and my wife was like ‘your legs look great’.
“It’s funny as well because I’m doing the breakfast show with 2FM like loads of people are doing their normal jobs at the moment but you could be tired after doing the breakfast show for whatever reason, especially after Monday, but it’s funny as soon as you get into rehearsals, the endorphins kick in. It’s a great feeling.
“The truth of it, the breakfast show is my bread and butter. It’s my passion and it is the gig I have always wanted and I love going in to do that so it doesn’t feel like work. It doesn’t feel hard to do," he added.
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