Dancing with the Stars’ Karen Byrne says she’s looking forward to enjoying some quality time with boyfriend Jake Carter after devoting herself to the show for months - but admitted she never wants the RTE series to end.
The stalwart professional dancer was booted out of the competition on Sunday when she and her celebrity partner Nicolas Roche failed to win over the judges and fans at home with their foxtrot to Sinatra's I Love Paris in a dance off against paralympic swimmer Ellen Keane.
And whilst she’s excited to have some more free time to spend with her singer boyfriend Jake, the Dubliner, who held back tears as they left the competition on Sunday admitted she doesn’t want the experience to end - especially after missing out on a whole season last year due to Covid.
The 29-year-old said: “Of course, I love spending time with Jake all the time.
“But I was just so excited to see the show back up.
“I mean, it was for me, the best thing that I could ever have done. I mean, I'm dancing all my life, and I never thought I’d see myself on television.
“Like, it's just a buzz that you just can't get on anything else.
“So like when the show was confirmed, I was over the moon. So this is my happy place at the minute.
“So I'm like, I don't want it to be over, and people are saying there are only two weeks left. And I'm like I don't want it to only be two weeks left. Like I love it.”
Crediting Jake, who won the competition with her in 2018, before going on to form a relationship, for his support through every season since, she added:
“Jake is always there supporting.”
Speaking backstage after the show ended on Sunday, she went on: “And he is here now, and with Nicolas he wanted him to go all the way.
“But he lives through the show with me because he still wishes he was here dancing.
“So yeah, life is great with Jake, but I love when the show is on. I don’t want it to end.”
Following a hiatus due to the pandemic last year, the RTE dance show returned in January with various changes in place - including the departure of some big stars including judge Julian Benson and professional dancers such as Ryan McShane, a change in location, and the arrival of new, fresh faces.
Amid the shake-up, Karen admitted she was grateful she was kept on the show, admitting she did worry she would get the axe too.
“Yeah, of course I was,” she said.
“I was actually like, ‘would you say they are going to ask me back?’, and it is one of those things, like television, everything changes that changes.
“And change is good. And I kept pushing that ‘change is brilliant’ but then I was going ‘hold on Karen, you didn’t get the phone call yet, don't say that too much.
“But yeah I think it was a massive change. And you see new judges, new pro dancers, new locations, everything.
“I was thinking ‘oh there’s so many changes’, but I feel like we're such a strong team now in there. It just feels right.”
And asked if she thinks the show has the potential to keep running for many years to come, she added: “Absolutely. I know, obviously, I am a pro dancer on it and I want to say that, but the reaction that you get in the streets, obviously Dublin, but when you go outside Dublin too, it's such a big show.
“And I mean, it caters to everyone like my kids in dance school are obsessed with it and also their moms, their nannies. Everyone is.
“So in that sense, I feel we definitely need a good few more years. What we be talking about if the show wasn’t on?” she added, laughing.
She also told how the show is also a nice boost to her dance school business, and others around the country.
“Yeah, I mean the inquiries are massive at the minute…
“I mean it's not even just for my studios, studios all over Ireland. It really does show ballroom and latin. Because even like when I used to say I'm a ballroom dancer people go ‘is that not a granny dance. What? What is that?’
“They don't see it as such a hard sport and it is. To me it should be in the Olympics because we put in so much work just as much as any other sports team.
“And so it’s tough. I think it makes kids kind of look at the show and say ‘oh, I want to do that’.
“So if it's helping Irish dancing, and Irish kids look up to ballroom dancing and say I want to try it, then like it's amazing for us and the studio as well.”
