Carl Mullan says he was 'incredibly shocked' to win Dancing with the Stars
Broadcaster Carl Mullan with dance partner Emily Barker during Dancing With The Stars
RTÉ star Carl Mullan has said he was "incredibly shocked" to win the sixth season of Dancing with the Stars, saying he knows "technically" he was not the best dancer on the show.
The 2FM broadcaster made the comments on on RTÉ 1 this morning, after some viewers complained about the outcome of the dance competition.
“I will be the first to say, I know technically I wasn’t the best dancer," the 33-year-old said.
"I think Brooke is an incredible dancer and Damian as well... and Suzanne..," he said, "When they called out our name – I just couldn’t believe it."
Mullen, who co-hosts RTÉ 2FM’s breakfast show with DWTS presenter Doireann Garrihy and former rugby star Donncha O’Callaghan, said his experience on the show was "intense" with 10 hour rehearsal days with pro-dance partner Emily Barker.
"I am proud that I did it," he said.
The Dubliner, who previously opened up about struggling with imposter syndrome “every single week” on the show, said prior to taking part in DWTS, he hadn't realised how much he "struggled with confidence".
"Outwardly, people think I am a very confident person... I can go into a room and chat to people, but every single week, on a Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Emily had to say 'you can do this, don't worry you can do this'.
Ahead of Sunday’s final, the Dubliner said his partner Emily Barker had to "pick him up" and assure him he was "good enough" to be here every week.
“There's just this voice in your head going, 'You're not good enough. You're gonna make a show yourself'. Every single week.”
Mullen said his experience on the show has helped him learn how to “silence that voice in [his] head a little bit”.
"It's gotten better as I've gone on and that's how I've grown through this,” he added.
The 33-year-old said he has also seen an amazing transformation in his fitness as a result of his participation in the show.
"The fitness has gone through the roof,” he said.
“I need to really try and stay on top of it now once this finishes... one of the added bonuses to doing a show like this was getting my fitness back on track after a couple of years of, like, becoming a dad and covid and all of those things.
“I've been wearing a fitness tracker, and I've noticed, week six when we did the jive, my heart rate was going up to like 180 doing that dance and now, doing the same level of output, it goes up to 150 /160.
“So I can statistically see the fact that my fitness has gotten better.”
Looking ahead to life post-DWTS, the dad of one says he’s looking forward to having a more time to spend with his "little lad” Davey.
“He's at an age now where every week he's changing. He's just over a year and a half now, and every week he's learning new words, he's trying to string sentences together..
“I want to spend as much time as possible with him. So, I'm really looking forward to that and myself and my wife Ash, we're definitely gonna have to get away for a weekend.
“She's been unbelievable during this whole thing, she's been holding down the fort at home with Davey. We're getting work done on our house as well at the moment. She's been the foreman of that whole project.
“We're going away on a holiday at the end of April just to get a bit of sun and relax and chill out and not think about steps,” he said with a laugh.
“That’s the main plan!”
