Kevin aiming for Dancing with the Stars final spot

Kevin Mc Gahern has spoken about his relief about his progress to Sundays semi-final of RTE’s Dancing with the Stars. Along with his partner Laura Nolan, Kevin scored 23 out of 30 on the judges’ scores cards, a tally which he felt could leave him in danger of being eliminated.

“Sunday night was emotional, when we got our scores we were devastated we thought we would be in the dance off and were probably being sent home. We obviously got huge amounts of support from the public which dragged us out of the dance off.”

Kevin says the phenomenal support of the Cavan public has been vital to their progress so far.

“We’re delighted with the support we got from Cavan. My dad was at the Cavan v Down game last Sunday and everyone he met there was saying they were voting for us.

We really didn’t think we’d get this far. Laura is an amazing teacher. She has great confidence in me, it keeps me going every week. She keeps me pushing for the final, hopefully we’ll be in it next week, it’s the big one.”

Laura was also effusive in her praise for Kevin and revealed her admiration for him, especially giving their hectic schedule.

“I’m really proud of Kevin and how he danced. Every week is a new dance, so it’s a new challenge. There are certain dances that Kevin will be naturally better at compared to other dances. Last week was tough on him because we had two dances that were both salsa and it’s easy to get confused with the two routines. He also had two gigs last week which was more added stress. We had twelve hour days of practise, which combined with the gigs was a lot to take on.

We were disappointed with the scores because we were on second on the show, we knew it would be a high scoring show and we would be near the bottom of the leader board. We felt we were underscored, but I’m still delighted with how Kevin danced, especially considering the week we had.”

She said she was thrilled with the support they received from the public and is setting her sights on a place in the final.

“The support from the public was insane. To go through without a dance off was insane. We both came to the same conclusion we said ‘we had a great run and enjoyed being together, it was amazing’, but we had such a fun run, we didn’t want to finish after a stressful week."

She also says that every vote is vital for the couple to progress.

"They say on the show that every vote counts, but it’s true, the public does have the deciding vote. It’s great to get this far but we’re only one step removed from the final, which is all a public vote. That will be my first final, I was in the semi-final last year but never in the final. I’m so excited for this week’s dance. It will be a good one.”

Kevin also revealed his dance routine for this week's show and says he and Laura will be making an appearance in Cavan on St Patrick’s Day.

"We will be performing the Charleston to Cotton Eyed Joe. We're really looking forward to that. Myself and Laura will also be in Cavan for St. Patrick’s Day. We’ll be driving through the parade in a bog convertible. I’d like to thank all of Cavan for the support. It’s been really amazing. It’s huge. To get out of the dance off we needed to be in the top two.

We’re nearly there. I was never any good at football, so to get my hands on any trophy never mind the Dancing With The Stars Glitter Ball would be amazing."