Comedian Kevin McGahern has said he and his pro dance partner Laura Nolan won’t fall foul to the ‘Strictly Curse’ - saying her boyfriend Matthew MacNabb looks like an Avenger hero.
The Cavan native makes his Dancing With The Stars debut this Sunday on the RTÉ One show.
And despite weeks of rehearsing together, McGahern said the pair are strictly just pals.
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He told us: “The first one I am not at all concerned about. I have seen pictures of Matthew and he looks like he could be an Avenger and I look like Robert De Niro in Jackie Brown.
“She picked someone who looks like a drawing of Superman,” he said jokingly.
The comic admitted he was “sh*tting it” ahead of Sunday - but said he hopes to get further than fellow comedian Neil Delamere did in the last series.
Delamere was left shocked after he was booted out of the competition on week four of the competition last year.
He said: “Nobody wants to be the last kid picked in P.E. so it has given me some determination as well to go as far as I can, but it is hard to know. It’s impossible to know.
“I was excited last week because I felt I was in a good enough place but then yesterday I started… you know when you’ve got the basics down first and you’re finessing and then you start messing up the really really basic stuff so that scared me a bit so I’m a little bit nervous now.
“I was excited last week, sh*tting myself this week,” he said.
But he admitted some celebrities who already have a background in dance will have an advantage on the show.
“I don’t really want to think about the competition… I’m just trying to focus on doing my best. Look it, if I get halfway through it, I would be delighted with myself.
“To a certain extent, yeah I mean, I think the judges will always favour you if you’ve got a history of dance. A lot of the winners are because of their personality.
"Bill Bailey had a lovely arc of starting really really low and then the audience followed his journey. There is more than one way of winning it.
“I’m not thinking too much about strategy, I just don’t want to trip for the first couple of dances."
Speaking about how his rehearsals are going, he said: "It's going great. The first week was rough enough. It's like learning code but once your legs learn it, it becomes a lot easier.
“Once she started praising me, then I was filled with the joy of dancing."
He praised his dance partner, saying Laura is "very determined" to get to the final this year.
“She’s very determined, she’s incredibly talented. I only learned yesterday that she has been teaching dance since she was 14. She is one of the most accomplished dancers in the country and she is a very good teacher.
“She learns how your brain operates and works in that way like any good teacher."
But the former Republic of Telly host said his whole family is rooting for him.
“This is the biggest thing that I have ever done in the opinion of my family. They never really cared if I got a TV show or was in a film.
“Dancing With The Stars is to them… I might as well say it, like I’ve just been nominated for an Oscar. A few people have said it to me before, ‘oh you should go on that’, like it’s something I can apply for.
“They were over the moon, they were absolutely delighted. (When I was offered it)”
He joked that bets were already being made on him.
“I know Barry Murphy has put money down already. I’m not sure if it's because he has amazing faith in me or he is just a gambling addict.
“I think they have faith in me,” he said.
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