As the celebrity dancers head into Dedicated Dance week on Dancing With The Stars, Traitors Ireland star Paudie Moloney has been paying tribute to his ten grandchildren.
Dedicated Dance Week honours “a person or people who have made an impact on the lives” of the DWTS contestants, and on Sunday night the former prison guard from Limerick will take to the dance floor with his pro dance partner, Laura Nolan, to do a Jive to The Blues Brothers’ version of Jailhouse Rock.
Paudie and his pro dance partner, Laura Nolan. Photo credit: Kyran O’Brien
Paudie is dedicating his spin under the glitterball to his ten grandchildren, who range from four-month-old newborn OisÃn to 21-year-old hurler Shane.
Speaking from the DWTS rehearsal room, Paudie said: “Dedicated Dance Week is massive, to be honest. I’m really looking forward to dedicating it to my ten grandkids. They’ve been in my life a long, long time.
“They’re dancing in front of the TV, and there’s been a grandchild at most of the shows at some stage or another. It has been brilliant; a lot of them have already seen the show live. So yeah, they’re as invested as I am at this stage.”
He added, “Family support is everything. When I went to do The Traitors, I left my wife at home, and she would support me. The family were unbelievably supportive. They really help me through stuff, and they’re helping me through this.
“As I say, all the grandkids have already been to the show, and there’s more to come, so hopefully we stay in there long enough that they’ll all get to it.”
Paudie’s pro dancer, Laura, is also extremely busy. She will be committed to DWTS until March, and then in June, she is set to marry her fiancé, Matthew McNabb, with whom she was paired with on the show in 2022.
Speaking about finding time to make wedding arrangements, she said: “I have a very organised fiancé.
“I had a dream only a few nights ago that I arrived at my wedding with basically a slip on, and my hair and my make-up weren’t done. And my mum looked at me and was like, ‘Laura, what are you doing? You’re on, you’re going down the aisle in like five minutes… ‘”
Following the departure of Loraine Barry, this year’s season of DWTS has a new judge – Oti Mabuse, the pro dancer who won Strictly Come Dancing in 2019 and 2020.
“She’s doing a brilliant job,” says Laura. “I think she brings a completely different dynamic to Loraine. I think she’s very bubbly, but I think what you are getting is similar to Karen, where she kind of understands it from both perspectives.
“So you can really feel the support from her towards us, the pros, because she knows what you’re going through, so I really feel like she’s brought that, and I think it’s actually lovely.”
At the age of 68, Paudie is the oldest ever DWTS contestant, but he says it has not held him back.
“Not a bit, to be honest. Genuinely, I know it is an old cliché, but age is only a number, and I don’t feel it. And until you have to stop, I won’t stop. I’ve always exercised, and I’ve always taken on a challenge like this.
“This is just another challenge. And, admittedly, there are body parts I’d forgotten about that are showing up again, and they’re sore when they show up.
“I have pains where I’ve never had pains. I actually think it pushes you more, to be perfectly honest with you.”
Dancing With The Stars, Sundays, RTÉ One, 6,35pm