Footballer Stephanie Roche gets the boot from RTÉ’s DWTS

The pair danced a samba tonight which went down well with the judges. But they found themselves in the bottom two couples and heading for the first dance-off of the series alongside Suzanne Jackson and her partner Michael Danilczuk.

After both couples danced again, the judges decided to send Stephanie and Ervinas home.

On leaving the competition, Stephanie said: “I just want to thank this guy, he has honestly been unbelievable.”

The footballer expressed her gratitude for her time in the competition and praised Ervinas, saying “he’s been so patient”.

He replied: “All I can really say is thank you because every single challenge, every dance, you gave it your all.

“You are a completely different person from week one and I am so proud of you.”

There are now seven couples left in the competition and they will take to the dance floor next Sunday night for orchestra week.

After receiving immunity from this week’s dance off last week, Panti Bliss and partner Dynes Samsone were able to dance without the fear of being sent home.

The pair went automatically into week eight but still performed tonight, with Lorraine Barry saying: “You could have taken it easy but you didn’t.”

After the pair received the first two 10 scores of the season last week, the pair came in with a judges’ score of 22 this week.

Actor and singer Damien McGinty and his partner Kylee Vincent secured the highest judges’ score of the night, with a total of 29.

The two performed a fun-filled Charleston, which Lorraine Barry said was “quite quirky”.

Judge Arthur Gourounlian was also impressed by the Glee actor’s dancing, saying that he “aced the swivels”.

Fellow judge Brian Redmond said McGinty had a “lovable, goofy nature” and that his Charleston was “was almost perfect”.

Comic Kevin McGahern and his pro-partner Laura Nolan performed a quick step tonight to Lust for Life by Iggy Pop.

After their performance, Redmond said: “If I were any of the other dancers, I would be praying I wasn’t in the dance-off against you.”

The judges gave them a combined score of 26, and this together with the public vote flew the two into next week’s show.