Derry Girls star Leah O’Rourke first eliminated from RTE’s Dancing With The Stars

Leah O’Rourke with dance partner John Nolan in Dancing With The Stars. Photo by Kyran O’Brien/kobpix

Niamh Campbell

Derry Girls star Leah O’Rourke has become the first contestant to be eliminated from the sixth series of Ireland’s Dancing With The Stars.

The Newry native and her pro dance partner failed to impress the judges with their cha-cha-cha performance, which involved multiple props such as drums and maracas.

They only received a score of 11 out of 30 from the panel and didn’t secure enough public votes to go through to the show’s fifth week.

However Leah, who played goody-two-shoes Jenny on Derry Girls, said she would be ‘going out with a bongo bang’.

Joking that she had ‘limited dance experience’ prior to the show and that she was never very ‘musically talented’, the 34-year-old said she loved being a part of it and had great fun.

Meanwhile, Bellaghy’s Brooke Scullion wowed the judges again with a high-flying score of 26 out of 30 from the trio.

Dancing a raucous rumba with new Polish partner Robert Rowiński, the Eurovision star became visibly overwhelmed by the judges’ high praises and was teary-eyed by the end of her post-performance interview.

The 23-year-old broke records in the first week of the RTÉ series, registering the highest week one score ever seen on the programme with an impressive 25 out of 30.

She is currently at the top of the programme’s leader board, with a combined 74 points since this season started.

Pro dancer Maurizio Benenato, who was paired with the front runner for the first three weeks, has left the show after revealing he had returned to his native Italy “due to a personal problem”.

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph last week, Brooke said that she is “really happy” with how viewers are responding to her.

“I definitely feel like people are starting to know more about me and how hard I work – but I mean it’s always good, people are always really supportive and I feel love especially after I announced my first ever solo gig at Dublin Academy,” she said.

“I’m really happy with how people are perceiving me and I’m so lucky to have the fan base that I have. I feel so lucky in the competition with everything; choreography, music and my partner. The competition has been really challenging and really tough.

“I feel lucky to be experiencing it with such amazing people while living with Leah (O’Rourke) and our early morning car rides with Marie and Damian. I’m mostly enjoying the experience of being trained professionally and excited to see where we can go next!”

Fellow Derry native Damian McGinty also progressed through to next week’s show, which will have a movie theme, after he performed a classic Viennese waltz to the ballad ‘All For You’ by Irish singer Cian Ducrot.

The former ‘Glee’ actor also wowed the judges with what they deemed as an ‘emotional’ performance, and he even received a video message from Cian Ducrot before taking to the dance floor.