Dancing With The Stars favourite Lottie Ryan has told how she hopes her late dad Gerry will be looking down on her with pride.
Last week the radio star and her pro dance partner Pasquale La Rocca got a standing ovation for their jive.
Lottie, 33, told the Irish Mirror: “I hope my dad and my nana are smiling down on me.
“My nana Maureen Burke grew up in the Olympia Theatre, she came from a family of costumiers.
“Doing a show like this I feel she would have been in the front row, just the glitz and the glam and the costumes, I think she would have adored it.
“I hope I make my dad proud, I think he would definitely be proud of me pushing myself and Maureen too. When I told my family I was doing the show, they were so thrilled.
“They knew it was something I had wanted for so long, to put myself out of my comfort zone.”
On Sunday, the 2FM host, whose radio star dad died suddenly in 2010, will take on a contemporary ballroom dance to Freya Riding’s Castles.
She said: “Pasquale has created something stunning and I can’t wait to get on the floor.” Despite having dancing experience in the performing arts, Lottie added the standard required for the show is another level.
She said: “Everything is new for me, I’ve never done ballroom or Latin.
“To suggest I know what I’m doing on the show is widely exaggerated.”
