Neil Delamere said it will be straight back to the day job as his time on Dancing with the Stars was cut short after falling into what he has dubbed ‘mid table’ danger.
The comedian and his partner Kylee Vincent were the second couple to leave the RTE show on Sunday night, after their cha cha cha to the Ghostbusters’ theme tune failed to win enough votes.
But after securing a solid 18 points from the judges on the night, and sitting comfortably on the leader board before voting lines opened, the pair felt everyone, including themselves wrongly assumed they were safe.
“We are a little surprised,” the Co Offaly funnyman admitted on Monday morning.
“We kind of thought we were safe because there were four or five above us and four or five people below us. So we kind of thought, ‘ah we are grand’. Mid table.
“But mid table I’ve been told is a dangerous place,” which experienced professional Kylee echoed.
Speaking to Ryan Tubridy on his RTE Radio 1 show, the 43-year-old went on: “And I saw this last night on social media people said ‘ah we really like the dance, so we thought you were safe and voted somebody else’
“There's no such thing as safe.”
The 43-year-old said the show has been ‘all consuming’ and ‘obsessive’ and told that there was much more he had hoped to do - including a special dance for his parents.
“I would have liked to have learned jive. Because when we were thinking of dedication week, I would have liked to have dedicated it to my parents.
"Because they met in the 50s in Mullingar in the arts centre, to that song Let’s Twist Again, I would have liked to have done that.
“It does awaken something in you,” he added.
But he admitted it was also the most nervous he has been in his whole career.
“I was so nervous at the start,” he confessed. I genuinely figuring out how I was going to get over the nerves. I haven’t been that nervous in 15 years.
“It was so scary to me at the start.”
But now, as he finds himself with unexpected free time, with no rigorous training schedule or pressure to perform on the TV show each week, he said he’s eager to throw himself back into his live comedy gigs after restrictions stopped live gigs for so long.
The stand-up comedian, who is also a regular on BBC Northern Ireland television show The Blame Game, is set to head on a nationwide tour with gigs coming up at Vicar Street, Cork Opera House, as well as his his largest ever solo headline show at Belfast’s SSE Arena in February.
“There is plenty in the diary alright so I won’t be sitting at home,” he said as he departed the dance studio on Sunday night.
“Suddenly I have some more free time to smooth some of the edges of those shows out.
“But it is back to the day job and away from the world of sequins and sheer t-shirts.
“And back to the normal clothes.”
“But all of that stuff has actually been good craic, I have to say.”
