Dancing with the Stars winner Rhys McClenaghan has said that taking part in the show gave him the same feeling as competing in gymnastics and hailed "the power of dance and expressing yourself through movement and emotions".
The Olympian and his pro-dance partner Laura Nolan won this year's season of the show after triumphing over Danny O'Carroll and Salome Chachua, Kayleigh Trappe and Ervinas Merfeldas, and Jack Woolley and Alex Vladimirov in a highly emotional final.
Watch: Rhys McClenaghan and Laura Nolan win Dancing with the Stars
Speaking just after their win, McClenaghan said: "Me and Laura had a chat before the results were called out and we said we were just so proud of ourselves and we were happy no matter what happened but winning was the cherry on top.
"To be named Dancing With The Stars champions is just amazing."
"After we finished our show dance last night, we just felt incredible, and we said to each other that we just gave everything we possibly could," Laura said.
Watch: Rhys McClanaghan and Laura Nolan's show - which scored 40 points from the judges.
Speaking about his plans after nearly three months of working on DWTS, McClenaghan said, "I go back into training. I look forward to that but I will really miss dancing.
"Tonight, I got a really similar feeling to how I feel about competing in gymnastics, and I didn’t think anything would come close to that, and I feel that is just the power of dance, expressing yourself through movement and emotions.
"That show dance in particular was just an incredible experience."
McClenaghan also praised his fellow dancers, saying, "I feel it’s so admirable that everybody stepped outside their normal career path and tried something completely new. I think we all had that mutual respect. I said congratulations to all the contestants."
"Everybody should be very proud of themselves. Even if I didn’t win the Glitterball I would still be very proud of myself.
"It was an incredible season and the level was just so high so it could have been anyone’s really," Nolan added.
After last night’s show, the winning couple headed to the DWTS wrap party in Dublin city centre, following a separate celebration with family and friends in Nolan’s house, which is close to the DWTS studio.
Asked if he would like to get more involved in showbiz after his DWTS experience, McClenaghan said: "I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t something I’d be interested in but it depends on what that would be.
"Anything I do, I try to put 100% effort into it so I’d have to enjoy what I’m doing and be passionate and for me dancing was that thing - it ticked that box. It was incredible to do that."
If you missed the Dancing with the Stars final you can watch it on the RTÉ Player.
