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4th January 2018
10:20pm GMT

Jake Carter and Karen Byrne
Karen Byrne was partnered with Des Cahill in last year's final, making it all the way to the quarterfinals.
Erin McGregor and Ryan McShane
Ryan reached the final of the first series with his celeb partner, actress Denise McCormack, and they were the only couple to earn three perfect scores of 30 in the final. They eventually finished runners-up to GAA player Aidan O’Mahony and his partner, Valeria.
Robert Heffernan and Emily Barker
Emily was unlucky in last year’s competition when she and her celeb partner Big Brother contestant Hughie Maughan became the first couple to be eliminated from the show.
Maia Dunphy and Robert Rowiński
Brand new to the show this year, Robert has competed in five series of the Polish equivalent of DWTS, winning the final series.
Bernard O’Shea and Valeria Milova
Looking to make it two-in-a-row, DWTS champion Valeria is back. Last year she and her partner, GAA player Aidan O’Mahony, made it all the way to the final and took home the glitter ball trophy.
Anna Geary and Kai Widdrington
Last year Kai danced with Katherine Lynch. They made it all the way to Week 9 when they lost their dance-off against Dayl Cronin and his partner Ksenia.
Tomás O’Leary and Giulia Dotta
Last year, Giulia partnered comedian Des Bishop all the way to Week 6, when he was eliminated.
Norah Casey and Curtis Pritchard
Last year, Curtis was paired with model Thalia Heffernan. The couple found themselves eliminated after their Jive in Week 4.
Deirdre O’Kane and John Edward Nolan
Last year, John was paired up with RTÉ reporter Teresa Mannion. Together, they reached Week 8 of the competition before they were eliminated in the first dance-off against Denise McCormack and her professional partner, Ryan.
Alannah Beirne and Vitali Kozmin
Vitali made it all the way to the final last year with his partner Aoibhín Garrihy. The couple were favourites throughout the competition and even managed to score the first ever 10 in the competition for their Jive.
The show kicks off this Sunday at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.Explore more on these topics: