The 21-year-old apprentice electrician from the village of Ballyouskill, Co Kilkenny, is a hot favourite to dance home with the glitterball trophy on tonight’s show.
Katelyn will be competing against Tolu Makay, Paudie Moloney and Eric Roberts.
“What makes it extra special this Mother’s Day is that my dance is dedicated to her,” Katelyn reveals.
Katelyn Cummins with dad Noel and mum Siobhan
“It’s a perfect fit really for Mother’s Day. I hate to be taking the spotlight away from her on Mother’s Day being in the Dancing With The Stars final, but I think she’ll be immensely proud to have it on a day that means so much to her as well.”
Katelyn, who has a genetic hearing disability, says her mother has been an inspiration to her – and always encouraged her to live her life to the full.
“My mam always lived life to the fullest. She travelled to America and Australia when she was in her 20s, studied to become a hairdresser before that,” she says.
“She pursued what career she wanted to do, didn’t listen to anybody and she influenced me to have that mindset as well.
“She went travelling for two or three years and then she came back home and opened up her own salon.
“So she pushed boundaries for herself that she never even realised, and then she is teaching her kids to do the same thing.”
Katelyn says that while “people put a stigma on to somebody with a disability”, her mother taught her to ignore other people’s opinions and to believe in herself.
Rose of Tralee Katelyn with pro dancer Leonardo Lini
However, Katelyn, who is also the current Rose of Tralee, admits that she can’t believe how her life has changed in just one year.
She says: “This time one year ago I was sitting my last set of exams in college in Tullamore and I had applied for the Laois Rose, but nobody knew. We kept it a secret because I was like, ‘what if I don’t win, I don’t want to be embarrassed by putting myself out there…’
“And then flipping it around, my life has done a complete 360 to now. Every part of my life is out there. It’s almost like, how did a 20-year-old girl, back when I won in Tralee, how did she become someone from probably one of the smallest villages in Ireland – we have a pub, we have a church, we have a hall – to go from that to living up in Dublin, to spending every day with all these incredible people who have so much experience?
Katelyn Cummins and Leonardo Lini reach the final of DWTS tonight
“I’ve been learning so much and growing so much as a person. I feel so much more mature. I’m only 21, but I don’t feel like the same age as my friends. It’s been incredible. I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
Katelyn intends to complete her apprenticeship as an electrician. “I never expected to put work on hold this year because I really want to get my degree under my belt,” she says.
“I really want to have something to fall back on in case something happens. After August I will go back and finish my apprenticeship. I joked that I’d be the lighting technician on Dancing With The Stars next year behind the scenes. If I had an opportunity I’d love to take that.”
Katelyn Cummins and Leonardo Lini on Dancing With The Stars
This week Katelyn got a hero’s welcome when she visited her village of Ballyouskill with her DWTS pro dancer, Italian-born Leonardo Lini.
“There were 300 people, I got so overwhelmed,” Katelyn says. “I didn’t expect a whole entourage of people to come up. There were so many posters and a massive amount of children and I felt like a pop star.
“It was kind of like arriving to the red carpet. It was crazy. Me and Leonardo we were so overwhelmed. He has never seen what a true Irish community is. It was an honour for me to be able to show him how supportive my community has been for me over the last couple of months.
Katelyn has grown up on a family dairy farm where she’s always been actively involved in the daily work with her father Noel.
Katelyn Cummins on her family’s dairy farm
“This is the first year in the last 21 years of my life that I haven’t been at home for the calving season,” she says.
“One of my neighbours said this week, ‘you can take the girl out of Ballyouskill but you can never take Ballyouskill out of the girl.’ You can take me away from the countryside but you can never take the country out of me.
“I’m missing the farm a bit. It was bonding time with my dad now that I look back on it. Even at 5.30 or six in the morning I’d be chatting away to him about all different things in life before going to work or before going to school.”
And Katelyn says that growing up in the country and playing camogie has given her the competitive streak required to reach tonight’s DWTS final.
“Coming into the show I wanted to have fun and I definitely did. But at the end of the day you would want to make it to the very end,” she adds.
Dancing With The Stars is on RTE One on Sunday at 6.30pm.