TV star Bernard O’Shea reckons jumping out of a plane would have been less stressful than his stint on Dancing With the Stars.
The former 2FM presenter opened up about “dreading” his weekly performances on the hit RTE show.
The 40-year old left the national broadcaster in May when Breakfast Republic got the chop and he’s currently onstage at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin making his theatrical debut in Little Miss Sunshine.
Bernard told the Irish Mirror: “I’m very nervous about how audiences will receive me but I know I’ve done similar things so haven’t been dreading the Olympia completely – like with Dancing with the Stars I was s****ing it all the time because I couldn’t dance.
“I had an amazing teacher who just had to drag me around the place.”
Opening up about his dance-induced stress he added: “I don’t think anything compares to being as anxious and worried as dancing in front of a million people knowing you can’t dance, that’s when you go what have I done?”
The Laois man, famed for hit TV shows Bridget And Eamon and more recently Marty And Bernard’s Big Adventure, admitted he’d waltz into any situation now. He said: “Dancing was my biggest fear and I conquered it without a shadow of a doubt.
“Genuinely I was watching stuff on YouTube recently of lads jumping out of planes with no parachute.
“Previously if you’d asked me would I jump out of a plane without a parachute and we’ll guide you to the landing plane or do Dancing With The Stars, I’d probably have said jump out of the plane.
“With the dancing I had to get my partner to spend 12 hours a day with me and still I couldn’t dance.”
The comedian and actor has no plans to return to radio any time soon though he said: “I’ve been offered a few bits and pieces on radio and I’ll never say never but for the moment no.”
Despite missing his Breakfast Republic team, he loves the freedom of his new schedule. He added: “I miss the craic, the way I describe it, radio is the planet that consistently orbits you and gives you food, shelter and heat but if you step away for a moment you realise the planet is still turning without you.”
