Jennifer is a natural on live television but admits hosting Dancing With The Stars was ‘quite a scary thing’ when she first took over from original host Amanda Byram
Jennifer Zamparelli backstage at Dancing With The Stars(Image: Instagram/dwtsirl)
Jennifer Zamparelli admits she struggled badly with nerves in the early days of hosting Dancing With The Stars.
The TV presenter was a rising star in RTÉ thanks to shows such as Republic of Telly, Bridget and Eamon and 2FM’s Breakfast Republic.
But taking over from Amanda Byram on Dancing With The Stars really made Jennifer a household name.
Speaking about getting the job back in 2018, she said: “For the first time, I thought maybe I could do that and bring something different to it.
“I got on to my agent, and I said to her: ‘Just get me in the room’.”
Hosting live television was new for Jennifer, and the mum of two says there were a lot of nerves in the early days.
“It was quite a scary thing, even the first season I did, the second season I did, I was riddled with nerves going up those stairs, ready for the live,” she told Magazine+.
“I remember hearing Baz Ashmawy say it once: it’s just about air miles.
“It’s about doing it over and over and clocking up those air miles.
“You can get more confident. You can get better at what you do.”
Jennifer left 2FM in 2024 but has stayed on with RTÉ to host Dancing With The Stars, admitting she doesn’t want it to end.
She said: “It’s a real privilege, it’s a show that I love to do. It fits in nicely with my life.
“It’s just a joy from going in to do script reads, to the Saturday to the Sunday, it’s never a chore.
“I’m working with really amazing people, and I love that most of the people in charge are women.”
Since leaving radio, Jen has a better work/life balance and knows the importance of taking time out for yourself – and recently went for a mini break on her own.
“I could have brought anybody – my husband, a friend, anybody – but I made a conscious decision to go by myself, eat dinner by myself, have a massage and ready by book and try and come off my phone and all of that.
“It was just lovely – I had a bloody great time, and it was enough, and it kind of inspired me.”
Jennifer shared the trip away on Instagram and found the reaction online to be very interesting.
She said: “The amount of women who got in contact with me and were like: ‘I’ve been meaning to do this for so long. This is my sign to do it’.
“As a working mum sometimes you’re always on other people’s schedules. It was nice, even for 24 hours, to be on my own schedule.”
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