Gearóid Farrelly may have started Dancing With The Stars feeling skeptical but he's a fully fledged fan now, admitting that the competition has been some of the happiest months of his life.
Now that he’s danced for the last time, Gearóid has said he hopes his and pro dancer Stephen Vincent’s partnership will be a conversation starter for people around the country.
The duo have become very close with their friendship taking the sting out of being eliminated after Orchestra week and the comedian even saying finding a pal like Stephen is ‘better than a Glitterball’.
Speaking after their exit, Gearóid said he thought it was so important for two men to dance together on national TV as it's a conversation starter for families watching at home.
'I had thought about this as a comedian for years,' he explained. 'I'm a gay comedian, what do you do? I'm an outlet but what do I do now for young gay kids? And I was like, well, all you can be is a conversation starter. So we're just a conversation starter. That's all you need.
'The rates of suicide and self-harm are way too high among young gay boys and this is an opportunity for a father to say the only thing a man should be ashamed of is his dancing.'
Reflecting a little more on why he said yes to DWTS, Gearóid added: 'I was a little bit skeptical coming into this but what sold me was that it could be two men dancing together and I was like, "oh brilliant", and it was Stephen but then I was like "but Stephen's straight, this is going to be so weird!"
'My friend Josh [Jones], who was on Dancing On Ice this year, was slagging me about it. He was like, "you're dancing with a straight guy. He's just gonna be like, ehhhhhh, gross". But Stephen was just so on it.
'You understood exactly what I wanted to do, and you just jumped on board, it was just such a joy. There wasn't even one minute when I felt awkward, well I was awkward at all at the time [in the dancing routines], but you never made me feel awkward.'
The bond between Gearóid and Stephen is clear and they've become good pals outside of the rehearsal room and RTÉ studio.
Gearóid continued: 'I've met his wife Kylee, his son - who is the most judgemental baby by the way and screams when I dance - we've just had a nice time, it's been loads of fun.'
Stephen added: ' We've just genuinely had so much fun and we've worked hard. We didn't take breaks, we danced the whole time, but we still found a way to have fun and talk about life.
'I brought my son into rehearsals and handed him to Gearóid, I don't think you realise how you're just part of my life now. You're my mate Gearóid, who I just spent four months dancing with on the TV, but you're also just my mate Gearóid.'
As for whether Dancing With The Stars will work its way into his stand-up routines now, Gearóid said: 'I don't know, I was trying to work in some new material last week and I found it very difficult to be cynical about it [DWTS] as the whole thing has been so wholesome, it's been such a great experience.'
