Twelve new contestants will be taking to the floor with their professional dance partners tomorrow evening.
DANCING WITH THE Stars is back on our screens tomorrow evening.
Twelve new contestants will be donning sparkles and sequins to take to the floor with their professional dance partners at 6.30pm on Sunday on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
The ninth installation of the reality show also has a new co-host and a new head judge, a professional dancer who won the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing twice in a row.
Before the new series kicks off, here’s a handy guide of everything you need to know.
How does the format work?
The dance competition sees twelve famous faces paired with a professional dancer to perform a live dance routine each week. The aim, of course, is to reach the final and take home the glitterball trophy.
The contestants will have a new dance style to master each week, such as the Charleston, the Tango and the Waltz, with just seven days to learn a routine choreographed by their dance partner.
After performing their routine each Sunday evening, they are then scored out of ten by a panel of four judges (we’ll get to them in a minute) and the viewing public at home, who vote for the contestants that they want to see in the next show.
The two couples with the lowest combined public votes each week must then perform a dance-off, with the judges then deciding who they think should go through to the next round, and eliminating the other couple from the competition.
Who are this year’s contestants?
Eurovision winner and singer Niamh Kavanagh was the first contestant announced back in December, following by The Traitors Ireland star Paudie Moloney.
Reigning Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins, comedian and actor Michael Fry, Fair City actress Stephanie Kelly, TV presenter Eric Roberts and Olympic medal winning rower and doctor Philip Doyle were announced as part of the lineup.
Musician Tolü Makay, podcaster Amber Wilson, Nationwide presenter Anne Cassin, Apprentice UK finalist Jordan Dargan and singer-songwriter Brian Kennedy were the last contestants to be confirmed by RTÉ in December.
The professional dancers who will be paired with them are Arianna Favaro, Leonardo Lini, James Cutle, Laura Nolan, Ervinas Merfeldas, Robert Rowiński, Stephen Vincent, Maciej Zięba, Alex Vladimirov, Rebecca Scott, Daniela Roze and Kylee Vincent .
Who are the judges?
Dance professionals Brian Redmond, Arthur Gourounlian and Karen Byrne are all returning to the judging panel this year, along with new head judge Oti Mabuse.
Mabuse is well-known for being a professional dancer on Strictly Come Dancing in the UK, which she won in 2019 and 2020 while partnered with actor Kelvin Fletcher and comedian Bill Bailey, respectively.
She was also a panelist on The Masked Dancer between 2021 and 2022 and served as a judge on Dancing on Ice from 2022 until 2025. Mabuse won the South African Latin American Championship eight times
Who are the hosts?
Jennifer Zamparelli is returning as a host for the seventh time for the new series.
She will be joined by new co-host Laura Fox, who is standing in for Doireann Garrihy while she is on maternity leave.
Fox presents a weekday morning show on 2FM radio and is also known for presenting Ireland’s Fittest Family on RTÉ One. She competed in the seventh series of Dancing with the Stars in 2024, but lost out on the glitterball trophy to retired Paralympic sprinter Jason Smyth.
Dancing with the Stars will be broadcast at 6.30pm tomorrow on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player.
