Drag queen and campaigner Panti Bliss has hung up her stilettoes after her journey on RTÉ’s Dancing with the Stars came to an unexpected end tonight.

The bar owner, whose real name is Rory O’Neill, ended up in a dance-off for the second week in a row after ending up at the bottom of the leaderboard alongside show favourite Brooke Scullion.

Both pulled off impressive performances as they fought to stay in the competition. But when the judges were asked to decide, Arthur Gourounlian and Brian Redmond opted to save singer Brooke.

But not before Panti gave a final scene-sealing performance as partner Denys Samson picked her up and spun her around to huge cheers from the live audience.

When asked for her reaction, Panti said she is “glad in a way” but was “very said that it was Brooke” that she was in the dance-off with.

“She’s like a niece to me, like my best friend...I love her with all my heart," she said. 

The Sunday night competition is really starting to heat up as it enters the final stages with just five celebrities and two weeks left until the grand final on March 19.

The star performance of the quarter-final show came from influencer Suzanne Jackson and her partner Michael Danilczuk.

She delivered a flawless Rumba to the tune of Lana del Ray’s Young and Beautiful, which has a special meaning for her as it was her wedding song to husband Dylan O’Connor in 2017.

She earned herself some huge praise from the judges for her efforts not to mention a score of three 10s, bringing her score to 30, the highest for any Rumba performance in the show’s history.

Judge Brian Redmond said she had “legs to die for” and from a technical perfective it was “pretty much perfect”.

“Technically it was absolutely spot-on,” he said.

Loraine Barry said it was a “masterclass in Rumba” and described it as ”absolutely beautiful”. Added to the public vote, this put her at the top of the leaderboard. 

Singer Brooke Scullion was hot on her heels last night with a score of 28 as she delivered an impressive Tango to the tune of Escala’s Libertango.

Matching her score with a mark of 28 was 2FM presenter Carl Mullan which included his first 10 of the season – despite an unfortunate encounter with a table which he accidentally broke during rehearsals.

He is also eating into the wardrobe budget this season as presenter Jennifer Zamparelli revealed that he has gone through eight pairs of shoes so far.

But his high-energy Charleston was described as his “best dance so far”.

“Well done and a bit like that table, I think you smashed it,” said Loraine Barry.

Earlier in the night saw Panti Bliss pulling off an accomplished American Smooth to the tune of the Bjork hit It’s Oh So Quiet, earning herself 27 points for the performance.

Comedian Kevin McGahern’s got 23 points for his Salsa while Damian McGinty scored 25 marks for his “dark and dreamy Foxtrot”. 

Tonight also saw the remaining contestants performing the first two team dances which saw previous winners Jake Carter and Lottie Ryan take to the dance-floor again.

First up were the Handclap Hustlers, captained by previous winner Jake, as they danced to HandClap and earned 27 points from the judges.

Next to take to the floor were the Disco Dazzlers, captained by series four winner Lottie. They scored a narrow victory over the other team with a score of 28.