RTE has confirmed Dancing with the Stars professional dancer Denys Samson has contracted Covid-19 and will miss this Sunday's show.
Denys dances with singer Erica Cody, who will now dance with Ervinas Merfeldas this Sunday.
In a statement, a spokesman for RTE said: "Professional dancer Denys Samson will be absent from Dancing with the Stars this Sunday, March 6th, as he has tested positive for Covid 19. All being well, Denys will return next weekend.
"Erica Cody will dance with Ervinas Merfeldas this Sunday."
It comes after Denys, who is from Ukraine, revealed he is scared for the lives of his friends and family back home.
"My friends signed for the military,” professional dancer Denys Samson told Jennifer Zamparelli on 2FM, adding the dancers he was with on the show have gone to war.
“I was with them in Ukraine Dancing with the Stars this summer, we were dancing, we were performing, and now they are actually with the guns, full of equipment, and they go for the war.” Samson said his mother and aunt are together in his home city of Odessa and would need to pass through Kyiv to get to the border.
"I'm really scared for their lives" he said.
"They are sitting together only the two of them at home. They need to cross the whole country to get there, and I don't want this for the moment."
He said his mother wanted him to keep going on the show: "This makes her happy, it makes her proud of me and helps her to stay strong.” He also thanked the people of Ireland for their messages of support and their donations.
On last Sunday evening’s show, Samson became tearful as he spoke about the situation. “Everybody knows what’s happening in Ukraine. My family's there, my friends,” he said. “We are strong, we will not give up. I want to say thank you to Ireland, to Dublin, to Dancing with the Stars, to the crew, to the producers, to everybody for supporting me this week.”
