Dancing With The Stars: Davy Russell on being away from his kids, coming out of retirement and bonding with contestants

Russell shares four children with wife Edelle – Lily, Finn, Liam, and Tess – and has another daughter Jaimee from a previous relationship.

"It does [bring its challenges] but at the same time they’re as wild as a March hare,” he said.

"To be fair to them they are growing pretty quick, they actually do their jobs at home. They’re doing jobs that I have to do on the farm, they’re fantastic children.

"They’re so into everything and they love the dancing. We have so much to talk about in the morning and they want me to talk to them about it.

"It’s very pleasing as any parent that can see the joy on their faces, that really is the winner for me.”

Asked about potentially coming out of retirement and racing in the US, Russell shut down any chance of a comeback and was quick to note he had already done so before Italian jockey Frankie Dettori.

"I’ve done it all, I’ve maxed out. I think Frankie took the idea from me, I retired and came back, I’ve ridden in America.

"It’s great fun but I’m an Irish man at heart and I love being at home. We’ve ticked that box, I loved riding but I’m enjoying retirement.

"I’m so busy, we have a huge, really busy farm at home, the kids are busy, then there’s the dancing. We don’t have much time to be thinking about riding at the moment.”

Russell said he had to embrace his “diva side” after being a member of “Doireann’s Dancing Divas” for the team dance-off portion of the quarterfinal.

"I had to, I had no other choice with Blu [Hydrangea] and Katja [Mia] on the team. Kylee was brilliant and there was loads of fun. We had loads of fun and I got the opportunity to lift Kylee again so it’s nice to get involved. I loved when they flipped me upside down, I thought that was really fun.”

After sharing the team dance with Virgin Media presenter Mia and drag queen Hydrangea, Russell said he developed a great rapport with both of his fellow celebrities.

Mia became the latest celebrity to be eliminated from the show ahead of the semi-final.

"I connected really well with Katja this week and we spoke quite a bit. We spoke loads more than you would on a normal week. She’s just a lovely person, a fantastic person and very honest in everything,” Russell said.

"She’s got a couple of very lovely traits about her as a person and I really enjoyed my time with her.

"Also Blu, she’s fantastic. She’s just really funny and witty and sharp. You have to watch what you say around her because she’ll catch you out."

Dancing with the Stars continues on Sunday, March 10 from 6.30pm on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player.