It’s a St Brigid’s weekend blub-fest on Dancing with the Stars (RTÉ One, Sunday, 6.30pm) as the return of dedications night moves celebs, judges and dancers to the brink of tears and beyond. The big idea with the episode – which this year arrives on the weekend of the Gaelic festival of Imbolc – is that the contestants channel their blood, sweat and twirls into a message of thanks to a special person in their life. Inevitably, the waterworks flow like a free bar at a team-building weekend.
That raw emotion is mixed with joy for taekwondo Olympian Jack Woolley, who finishes top of both the leader board and in the public vote with a moving American smooth to the unkillable dirge Grace.
The routine is a tribute to fellow Olympian and close friend Kellie Harrington but he also recalls how accepting his grandfather was of Woolley’s partner, Dave – so two dedications for-the-price-of-one during the weepiest performance to date on Dancing with the Stars 2025.
Woolley recalls how Harrington was there for him after he was viciously attacked in Dublin. “She’s a friend. I needed plastic surgery ... she was the first person that turned out.”
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The judges are rapturous about Woolley’s dance with pro partner Alex Vladimirov – as is Harrington, seen sobbing in the studio audience. “I’m not the better of it,” says Karen Byrne. “J’adore, j’adore, j’adore,” agrees Arthur Gourounlian and Woolley is on his way to a blockbusting 38 points.
It’s an impressive and moving moment. But for all the emotion in the air, the episode suffers from the lack of elimination this week. Rather than another contestant exiting, votes are carried forward until next weekend, with winner Woolley granted immunity. This has the effect of lowering the stakes – so that while Kevin Dundon’s David Bowie-soundtracked tango with Rebecca Scott places last with 22 points, there is no feeling of jeopardy. Dedications week is supposed to be about something bigger than doing well in a new year reality TV show – which is fine, but there is a pointed absence of excitement throughout the evening.
Can Dancing with the Stars thrive on feels alone? The celebrities do their best to make it so: in second place, gold medal-winning gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and his pro partner Laura Nolan jive to Gold Dust by DJ Fresh while incorporating a cheeky moonwalk.
The dedication is equally strong when Miss Universe Ireland, Aishah Akorede and Mrs Brown’s Boy star Danny O’Carroll tie at 31 each – with dances dedicated to their respective parents (the latter features Carroll’s pro partner Salome Chachua breaking out the curlers to impersonate Brendan O’Carroll’s Agnes Brown).
It’s wall-to-wall goosebumps, and everyone gets to shed a tear or three. But after two hours, some viewers might pine for the tooth-and-claw intensity of an elimination. Without that threat of figurative sudden death, Dancing with the Stars loses some of its edge. Dedications night is sweet and obviously important to the participants – but that we’ve seen the back of it for another year might be no bad thing. Nevermind the Imbolcs – let’s get back to that regular Dancing with the Stars mix of tension and shock departures as quickly as possible.
