Dancing With The Stars is helping Ireland lose weight.
Celebs like Katherine Lynch and Teresa Mannion have praised the show for helping them shift a few pounds – and viewers at home are taking note.
Tommy Shaughnessy, newly appointed as Sports Director at the World DanceSport Federation, said, “We are getting 40 to 50 new enquiries a week as a result of the programme.”
Weight loss: Viewers want to take up dancing because of the stars praising DWTS for losing weight | RTE
However, despite the popularity, Tommy revealed that there aren’t enough dance schools or classes around Ireland to help with the demand.
“The days of Irish people sitting in the pub all day are over. They want to be out dancing now,” he told the Irish Sun.
“We’re getting calls for dancing lessons from places like Longford but we don’t have any dance schools in Longford to teach them.
“If we had FAS help, or another Government agency, we could be employing people to teach them.”
Dance class: Tommy revealed that there’s not enough classes to keep up with the demand | RTE
Tommy noted that people are looking up to people like Des Cahill who has praised the show for his weight loss.
“Irish people are very shy but when they see Teresa Mannion or Des Cahill losing weight and looking better every Sunday night, and saying highly emotional things like ‘this is life changing’, many say to themselves, ‘I’ll give this a lash’.
Tommy also explained that it’s people shouldn’t get so worked up over eliminations because the show “is more about social dancing than competitive dancing.
“That’s why people shouldn’t be going crazy over the eliminations if good dancers go out ahead of bad ones,” he added.
Watch Dancing With The Stars Sunday from 6.30pm on RTE 1.
