EXCLUSIVE! Katelyn Cummins confesses reaching Dancing with the Stars final was her goal from day one

Katelyn Cummins has confessed that reaching the Dancing with the Stars final was her goal from day one.

The apprentice electrician from Laois shot to stardom in August 2025 when she was crowned the winner of the Rose of Tralee.

The 21-year-old is now embarking on an exciting new journey in 2026, as she takes part in this year’s series of Dancing with the Stars Ireland, making it all the way to the final.

Throughout her journey, she has been a strong favourite to win, consistently impressing the judges with her performance.

Speaking to Goss.ie ahead of the final, she spoke about wanting to be in the final from day one.

“Yeah, I won’t lie now, you know, just because we’re in the final, I will admit it, but back when I met Leonardo first, in our first week of training, he said: ‘what is your goal? what do you want to get from this show?’ and I said: ‘I want to be in the final.'”

“And he goes, right, we’ll have to work hard to make that happen, and we have worked pretty hard.”

Speaking about how she had a competitive streak growing up, she said: “I would say I’m a competitive person, I grew up playing camogie, so there’s always that bit of competitive streak in me all the time.”

“But coming into the show, you know, I wanted to have fun, and I definitely did. But at the end of the day, you would always want to make it to the very end.”

“And it’s not necessarily about winning the glitter ball, but making it to the end was what I wanted. I wanted the experience of the entire show,” she confessed.

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