MRS Brown’s Boys star Danny O’Carroll has revealed he considered a fake leg break to get off Dancing With The Stars — as he was missing his family so much.
The 41-year-old admits he came close to cracking during the gruelling months, while training away from his family and home in Co Donegal.
Danny told The Irish Sun: “I nearly gave up a couple of times. I was told it was hard, but I never factored being away from my family.
“I live in Donegal so I was the only one who didn’t get to see their family at night. ‘God’, I’d be thinking, ‘how can I fake breaking my leg to get out off this show?’”
Dad-of-two Danny said it was just as tough for his girlfriend, Tina Wats, and his two boys Jamie and Blake, missing him back at home.
He admitted: “Just as much as I struggled being away from them, they also struggled, missing me back in Donegal, and they were pushing me so much to keep going.
“My kids were saying, ‘If you leave Dancing With The Stars now, it will all be for nothing. You have done us proud and you’re doing it for us’.”
Danny had more family support from dad Brendan who surprised him during rehearsals last week, jetting in from his home in Florida last week, just at the moment he needed it most.
He said: “If dad was going to come over, that was the perfect moment as I really needed him because last week was a particularly down week for me.
“I was really stressed out and had a lot of personal things going on.
“So seeing my dad was so amazing because when you have my dad around, you know everything is going to be OK.”
Dad Bren, 69, joined girlfriend Tina in the studio audience, who he credits — along with dance partner Salome Chachua — with getting him to the finals of DWTS.
Danny added: “Tina has been amazing for me. Nobody is perfect but she is the closest thing to it.”
Marriage proposals are all the rage on DWTS this season, with former winner Jake Carter proposing to judge Karen Byrne on set last week, and Danny’s rival celeb Jack Woolley revealing he considered proposing to his partner Dave Stig if he won on the show this year.
Quizzed if he had any proposals planned, Danny told us: “Fair play to them. But no, I wouldn’t go that far. Not right now.”
But far from setting the eye on the big prize, Danny admits he doesn’t care if he wins on the DWTS final this weekend.
He said: “Lifting the glitter ball trophy is not a personal ambition of mine, no!
“But I would love to win for Salome, because this is her third time in the final. She puts so much work in and has never won.”
However he has no regrets doing DWTS, adding: “Before people only knew me as ‘Buster from Mrs Brown’.
“Now people stop me in the street as Danny O’Carroll and are so happy to see me. It’s mind-blowing!”
Danny and his professional dance partner Salome will perform the Charleston to Don’t Blame It On Me by Michael Bublé in the Grand Finals of Dancing With The Stars — on RTE this Sunday at 6.30pm.
