Grainne Seoige admitted she thought her ‘time was up’ on Dancing with the Stars - after an injury left her unable to walk just hours before the show.
The Galway born TV presenter is one of the ten remaining celebrities in the RTE dance show, after sailing through to the next round with her dance partner John Nolan on Sunday night.
But the pair admit they weren’t even sure if they would make it to the live show on Sunday morning, let alone through to next week - after she picked up a quad injury during rehearsals
.
Speaking after the show, Grainne told Irish Mirror: “I thought my number might have been up to be honest. I was very proud of what we managed to deliver given what we were working with.
“But you never know. That is the game, and we are just so grateful for everyone who voted for us.”
Former show champion John agreed, adding: “Absolutely, because literally we didn’t have a performance on Saturday so we were glad that we even got that on the floor tonight. So we are delighted.”
Explaining the extent of the injury, Grainne revealed she had to have 30 needles in her legs before taking to the stage on Sunday.
Hailing her physiotherapist Simon McEvoy for helping her get over the line, she said: “I couldn’t actually walk this time yesterday[Saturday] evening. I had an hour and a half of treatment, needling. That is the only reason I am able to be here today.”
Simon, of King Of Kings Coaching, then noted that her ability to take to the stage was ‘nothing short of miraculous’ and hailed her pro partner John as a ‘magician’ and the ‘real hero’ for pulling the performance together at the last minute.
The businesswoman, who runs her own jewel company ‘Grace Diamonds’ performed a rumba to the Bond classic, Shirley Bassey’s Diamonds Are Forever.
But fans of the show, including Grainne’s well known sister Sile Seoige were less than impressed with the show’s judges after they scored her performance 13 points despite her injury.
Judge Brian Redmond said: “It’s unfortunate that hip action was missing, just made it a little bit more cubic zirconia - a little bit more polishing needed on that diamond.”
Loraine Barry added: “My question is, is the injury stopping you from releasing the hips? That’s what’s missing here.”
Hitting out at the comments, Grainne’s sister Sile said: “I thought it was brilliant and couldn’t understand the judges scores tonight.”
Another fan said: “I thought the judges were very hard on Grainne given your injury. That was so beautiful, best of luck.”
And dance teacher John agreed, saying: “The judges were a little bit tough, I know they referenced the injury but I thought they would have given, not that we are looking for sympathy or anything, but I thought they would give a bit of a softer blow.”
Despite the low score, Grainne survived and her longtime pal and comedian Neil Delamere was booted out.
She admitted she felt her own sense of relief, but also sadness for her pal, and former colleague.
“I’m going to really miss Neil. I have known Neil a long long time, I’m so fond of him, and he is a great craic.
“And we really supported each other, we were always together.”
