Brooke Scullion discusses Dancing with the Stars, missing home and new friends

Brooke's journey so far has been remarkable. Before the show started the bookies had her at fifth favourite to win. After she lit up the stage and received the highest score ever for a first dance on the show it was clear that would change fast.

Speaking with the County Derry Post, Brooke said she's loving the experience so far and has formed bonds with cast and crew that will last forever.

“It's such a random show. Everybody taking part is from different backgrounds and it's great. They're just great people,” the Bellaghy woman said.

“Me, Panti [Bliss] and Denys [Samson] go to PantiBar a good bit – it's needed. You need a social life outside of dancing because it does take up all of your time. The schedule is crazy.

“Yesterday I left the house at eight [in the morning] and I wasn't back in the house until eight [in the evening] and that's alright but you do need a life outside it because once the journey is over what are you gonna do?”

The nature of the show means Brooke has had her time with other contestants, who became friends, cut short following their eliminations.

Leah O'Rourke who played Jenny Joyce in Derry Girls and Brooke had been sharing an apartment for the show before the actress became the contestant eliminated.

“We had such a lovely relationship and would come home and be able to just offload all the information that we had got that day and help each other through it,” she said.

“Leah and Marie were my girls. I rang [Dr] Marie [Cassidy] last night and I text her all the time – she's unreal. I'll definitely be keeping in touch with both of them.”

The start of a week can be daunting for Brooke as she takes on a style of dance that is new to her with original choreography set by her dance partner Robert Rowiński.

“On Monday you're like, how am I going to do this? Your Mondays and Tuesdays are your breakdown days,” she laughs.

“Then you've got Wednesday when you can usually start to do it with music and then it just becomes weirdly like muscle memory – you get used to it.

“It's like doing crosswords. The more you do them the better you're going to get at them. So my brain is getting more used to being tested like this and tested physically.

“So it's just, it's weird, but it took me like four weeks to really get to the hang of it. After four weeks, I felt like I was less scared,” she added.

Luckily for Brooke, she has her experienced dance partner and now close friend, Robert, by her side. She says the relationship they have off the dancefloor gives them a foundation to trust each other in their performances.

“Honestly, Robert is gonna be like one of my best friends forever. He is so funny and he's done this before so he knows what's going on and he keeps me right. That's invaluable.

“We spend loads of time together outside of rehearsals too and I love that because it shouldn't be about dancing all the time.”

Maghera camogie niggle and visiting home

That bond is important as the pair take on eight hour rehearsal days and moments of fun become crucial. On top of the mental challenge of learning new moves, practising the choreography is a serious amount of cardio, which can be tough on the body.

“I've been in the physio like every day this week. It's been so tough. Like I have a previous knee injury that I got through camogie playing for St Pat's Maghera.

“I wrecked my whole knee so basically my knee isn't as good as the normal person's knee anyway but all this added wear and tear, it's been difficult to learn how to look after it.

“But everyone is feeling it. I know that my age helps me a lot with recovery and that but no one's finding this easy.”

Her injury made her jive in week seven her hardest performance so far because the kicks were so hard on the knee.

“If I get through to the semi final next week there is a marathon, which is like dancing on the spot for five minutes. The last person on the floor is the winner. And it's hard to explain it exactly but it's basically another Jive.”

Brooke did get through after eliminating her friend Panti in the dance off. Competing against each other was difficult and following her elimination Panti said Brooke was like a niece to her.

Receiving one of the two lowest overall scores was no doubt hard to take for Brooke after she received such high points from the judges, meaning it was the audience votes where she fell down.

It also came a week after Brooke reached the highest heights of the show. That week she received a perfect judges score after her cinematic Contemporary Ballroom to Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush performed live with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

A few days before that performance she was back home visiting her old schools: St Mary’s Primary School in Bellaghy and St Patrick’s College in Maghera. She said meeting the pupils there gave her a big boost and they are due some of the credit for her first perfect score.

“It was unbelievable. They couldn't have done more. I wasn't I wasn't sure what to expect. The schools were so excited to see me because obviously I try to go back when I can.

“I went back after The Voice and I went back after Eurovision so to be able to still get a warm welcome from them is incredible.”

“And it gave me a big boost, actually, because I didn't know how much I was actually missing home until I went back,” she said.

“They can take the credit for that one. Because you never know what way it's gonna go, especially with that dance, it was very much a dance catered to music more so than a dance to time.

“It was all about feeling it and that was so cool. I didn't even care about the scores until the next day because I was so hyped after the dance,” she added.

Brooke will compete in the semi final this Sunday and will start her own tour the week the show ends. She will fly to Australia the day after the final for the start of the tour and will return home to Ireland on May 26 for a show in The Academy in Dublin.