Derry girl and Eurovision star Brooke Scullion is all fired up and ready to take the ballroom by storm as she appears on the new series of Dancing With The Stars.
Known for her outstanding vocal abilities and for representing Ireland at the iconic singing competition in 2022, she is hoping to show a different side of herself as she competes on Sunday.
Guided by her professional partner Maurizio Benenato, Brooke told Belfast Live that although this type of dancing is "alien" to her, she is excited to give it her all.
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We asked Brooke some pressing questions as she prepares to put on the sparkles and dance her way to the top:
How are you feeling ahead of the first show on Sunday?
I have definitely felt more confident about other performances… For me dancing is so alien!
You have to have your feet pointed and facing in a certain direction (none of which feels good by the way) and everything is laced in technique.
I’m really keen to do well, I hate not being good at things no matter what it is and dancing will be no different. We’re going to try to bring lots of fun and energy to the first live show
When you heard that you would be going on Dancing With The Stars, what were your initial thoughts?
My first initial thoughts were this is exciting and this is gonna be so much fun because there so much glitter and sequins and big hair!
Do you have much previous dancing experience?
Apart from Eurovision the only experience I have to do was dancing is getting kicked out of Irish dancing at six years old for throwing an accordion…
Eurovision was helpful in terms of dealing with big audiences but if you are not prepared on the day there’s nothing that can make you feel easy or confident about the performance.
Also with Eurovision, I could do as little or as much as I want in dancing with the stars I have to exactly mimic my partner and we have to make each other look good.
Do you think your Eurovision experience will give you an edge in the competition?
The good thing about Eurovision and all the performances that I do is that they are all high-risk so I am used to live settings and really intense heightened performances.
This means that my face always looks like I am having a good time even though everything visible is a mess from the neck down
How has training been going ahead of the first live show?
The training is the hardest part and believe it or not it is more mentally challenging and physically challenging.
If you don’t successfully land a lift and you nearly die you have to do it immediately in order to get rid of the fear that you just had.
No matter if you think you did something right it can always be better so the phrase “and again” is used frequently.
I am a size 5 and my Latin shoes are a size 3 1/2… the reason for this is so that my toes are on the floor and in turn they will give me more grip as well as stability. Is it worth it? We’ll find out on Sunday
What can people expect to see from you on the show?
I think people will be surprised by my performances and the sides of myself that I’m going to show!
It’s a very exciting time for me because I feel like I’ve grown up in front of everyone at home and now I’m ready to show myself off as a multifaceted woman.
There are so many different characters to play and I hope I can stay in the competition long enough to try a few of them.
Brooke will appear on Dancing with the Stars this Sunday on RTE One at 6.30pm
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