Mad Hatter Thalia Heffernan Survives Dancing With The Stars First Cull

Last night saw the first celebrity eliminated from RTE’s new series Dancing With the Stars. Thalia Heffernan, who features in the Mad Hatter’s Box in the current issue of Hot Press, seemed to be under threat before the announcement was made by presenter Amanda Byram.

Tensions were high backstage between the various contestants, before the judges' scores and the viewers' votes combined to determine that one-time Big Brother star Hughie Maughan was to be eliminated.

Maughan was in the bottom three, along with Thalia Heffernan and Dr Eva Orsmond. A veteran of reality TV, the former Big Brother contestant was philosophical afterwards.

"I was just getting into it,” he said. "I'm so sad to go home but I am glad that I got the opportunity."

The Dubliner's professional dancing partner, Emily Barker, almost burst into tears when the results were announced, commenting that she was "so proud of him".

Almost inevitably, Maughan was one of the most talked about contestants on the show thanks to his lavish use of fake tan over the course of the first fortnight of the show.

Katherine Lynch and her partner Kai Widdrington; favourite Dayl Cronin and partner Ksenia Zsihotska; and GAA star Aidan O'Mahony performed with varying degrees of finesse. And ultimately, it was Maugham who had to go.