DARA O’Briain has refused a return to the BBC – a year after his show was sensationally axed.
The ex-Mock The Week presenter has turned down competing on Strictly Come Dancing, telling fans: “That will never happen.”
Mock The Week host Dara O’Briain
Dara on stage at the Paddy Power Comedy Festival
Instead, the 51-year-old comic uses his influence as a potential competitor to threaten his teenage daughter.
Dad-of-three Dara told crowds during a gig at the Paddy Power Comedy Festival in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens this weekend:
He said: “I have a 15-year-old daughter, which is a glorious thing. I’m so proud of this young lady and what she’s becoming; strong and powerful and fierce.
“But f*** me – strong and powerful and fierce – I’ve got f***ing nothing in this battle.
“I’ve been reduced to saying ‘stop it, stop it’ in this disciplinary battle – ‘stop it, or I will go on Strictly Come Dancing and you will watch me dance’.
“I will dance hard and I will get to Latin week. I will ‘cha cha cha’.”
He laughed, adding: “I can never do the dancing show. That will never happen.”
Dara – who hosted current affairs comedy show Mock the Week for 17 years – fought back tears as he filmed the final episode.
He also joined his fellow panellists – including Hugh Dennis – in cracking jokes at the BBC for cancelling the series.
And in a further swipe at the channel, this weekend Dara mocked Strictly Come Dancing‘s notorious reputation for affair scandals.
He told how he terrified his teenager into behaving by threatening to take Strictly film crews to her school to meet his dance partner.
“I told her I’ll shout ‘hunny, look over here – watch me dance and say hello to your new mummy’.”
The crowd erupted into laughter as they realised he was referencing the show’s infamous curse.
But married Dara admitted the joke has fallen flat elsewhere he’s told it in the world.
“Strictly Come Dancing is everywhere in the world,” he added.
“But Britain is the only country in which the celebrities f*** the dancers.”
After 20-years on-screen, a number of Strictly stars have been victims of the dreaded ‘curse’.
Stacey Dooley, Seann Walsh, Louise Redknapp, and Susanna Reid are among the biggest names to have split from their partner in the aftermath of the finale.
Dara was on stage at the comedy festival this weekend as Paddy Power hosted a host of famous face over four days, including Una Healy and Love Island’s Greg O’Shea.
This was the second year of Paddy Power’s sponsorship of the Comedy Festival, which was also headlined over the weekend by Briain, Tommy Tiernan, Deirdre O’Kane, Adam Hills and Jason Byrne.
Stacey and Kevin met on Strictly in 2018 and now have a child together
Seann Walsh was with Rebecca Humphries during his stint on Strictly
