He may have finished second from the bottom on the scoreboard last week but Kevin Dundon remains upbeat as he heads into the second round of Dancing with the Stars this Sunday.
Despite their use of a stunt lettuce, it earned them a lowly score of 17 but the 58-year-old Dubliner isn’t worried about getting off to a less than spectacular start on DWTS.
"No, not at all because it just gives us room to improve," he says. "This week shouldn’t be more nerve-wracking, but it seems more nerve-wracking but I’m sure we’ll have a bit of a laugh and be alright."
Speaking via Zoom from the DWTS rehearsal studios in Dún Laoghaire ahead of this Sunday’s show, the ever-affable chef and Becca are dancing a Samba to a song by The Gypsy Kings this week and he is hot to trot.
He’s already built up a bit of a fanbase. "I was on the Luas the other day and there were three ladies there and they were avid fans of the show. They gave me the full lowdown on how I did and what I need to do to improve," he says.
"They were loving it. They were good fun. People love the show, and they have you and the show’s best interests at heart."
Kevin is a very busy man. As well as running Dunbrody House with his wife Catherine, he has appeared on numerous cookery shows, including Guerilla Gourmet and Heat and has published several cookbooks, as well as cooking for Irish and US presidents and the late Queen Elizabeth II.
In fact, he has turned down numerous invites to take part in DWTS over the years and he says his family were the deciding factor in saying yes this year. He has three children with Catherine - Sophie, Emily and Tom.
"I’ve never seen the family as excited about anything I’ve done," he says. "I said, `I’ve done this, I’ve done that, and I’ve done the other and this is the thing that you’re most excited about .. .?’ Haha. They’re loving it."
His two daughters are living in Berlin and Tom is still in school in Kilkenny. Speaking about how he feels about Emily and Sophie both living abroad, he says, "Emily has moved there fulltime, she’s finished college, so she lives with her boyfriend in Berlin and Sophie is in the London School of Economics doing political science.
"Them being away hasn’t really hit me too much because they were home for Christmas. Sophie was at the show last Sunday and Emily had a Dancing With The Stars party in Berlin. I asked my family should I do the show because Tom is 17 and they all said absolutely go for it.
At 58, Kevin is the daddy of this year’s show and he’s competing against much younger celebrity dancers, including Olympian gymnast Rhys McClenaghan.
"Listen, we all bring something to the show," he says. "The boys can bend over backwards and I’ve years of experience on television and I have one or two moves and lots of smiles. To be honest, it’s scary. For the first couple of weeks, I lived on Paracetamol and Epsom Salts baths.
"They’re so young and so fit and they’re able to do the splits and summersaults and you look at your body and say, `if I do that, I might not get up again!’ But I can still do the moves and smiles and entertain the people at home."
It is early days but after his first spin under the glitterball, Kevin is already eyeing who his competition is on the show. "All of them! Haha. All of have something that is going to deliver but Danny is putting in a huge effort and he’s such a nice guy. I think jack is an amazing dancer.
"Elaine is great, and she showed what she is made of last Sunday, Rhys doing the somersaults and splits and making me sick . . . I said where did he get those hips? Fair play to him. I probably had those hips when I was his age too.
"It’s too early to say who the competition is. Week one is done so after week two and three I will probably be able to give you a better answer."
The tension backstage was relieved last week when Kevin’s fellow DWTS competitor and former Irish Eurovision entrant Mickey Joe Harte took out his guitar and led a singsong.
"It was absolutely brilliant because it chilled and relaxed us," Kevin says. "Last week, we all had a bit of a meltdown moment because you actually think you’re better than you actually are so when you see yourself for the first time on TV during rehearsals, you think oh my god, `I thought I was better than that . . , god, what have I got myself into?’
"But once the show goes live and everybody’s there cheering you on and the live audience is there, it’s fun. I love people and I love an audience and entertaining people and that’s one of my strengths, I think."
On Sunday, Kevin and Becca, who is also new to DWTS, will take a twirl to that Gypsy Kings song and it’s a track that has a special place in his and his wife Catherine’s hearts.
"Catherine is like the rock in our relationship and family and she’s an amazing woman and I think about Catherine all the time," he says. "This week me and Becca are doing a samba, and the song is by Gypsy Kings and it’s probably the first song we played in our restaurant in Dunbrody House.
"When I was filling out the form for the show, we were asked what is your favourite style of music and I put down Gypsy Kings so I will definitely be thinking of Catherine.
"She thought I did great last week, the whole family did, obviously I could do better but that is what this show is all about."
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