Fr Ray Kelly
Photo: RTE Róise McGagh
Fr Ray Kelly made his first appearance on Dancing with the Stars as it aired on RTÉ One on Sunday night.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic he said he enjoyed it but felt he might be eliminated in this first round, but it’s up for people to vote. “I’m not a dancer and the judges were quite critical,” he said, “I suppose with me particularly because the quality of the dance wasn’t what they would expect.”
The show kicked off with boy’s night for its fourth series.
He scored a low eight points out of a possible 20 dancing a Foxtrot to ‘A Spirit in the Sky’ with partner Kylee Vincent
One of the judges Loraine Barry said: “Father, I think you’re going to have to forgive me when I say this, it was a trot, not a fox trot, because you did a lot on the toes, but you did your very best and you’ve worked very hard. Just keep working hard.”
Reaction
The reaction on twitter was one of huge support, with Irish Influencer James Kavanagh tweeting: “OBSESSED that there’s an actual priest on Dancing with the Stars wearing a literal sequinned priest collar. It’s reasons like this I love Ireland.”
“I was quite happy with my performance; I did the best I could,” Fr Ray said.
“From the moment when we were on the floor waiting for the music to start, I was standing there for maybe 30 seconds, the audience was just erupting and shouting and cheering and really encouraging me to dance the best I could.”
He said it was a lot of hard work, “three weeks before Christmas which needless to say is one of the busiest times of the year for a priest”.