When Paudie Moloney says “opinions are like noses – everybody has one” and brushes off critics ahead of the Dancing with the Stars final, he is not wrong that people are entitled to speak. What the Limerick Leader quote leaves out is that the show is entitled to choose which of those opinions ever make it to air. Reality television does not simply record who wins; it builds the narrative that makes one outcome feel inevitable. The idea that critics can be dismissed ignores how much of the result is decided in the cutting room.
The outcome is built before the public vote is counted
Paudie Moloney, the 68-year-old retired prison officer and Traitors Ireland star, reached the DWTS 2026 final with professional partner Laura Nolan despite online backlash from viewers who questioned whether he deserved to be there on dance merit. As reported by the Limerick Leader in March 2026, he told the paper: “I don’t read opinions. They are like noses – everybody has one. It’s called freedom of speech. And thank God we have it. People are entitled to speak. I just don’t have to listen.” VIP Magazine and Goss.ie carried similar quotes. The framing is defiant and personal. It does not address the structural point: who gets a hero edit and who gets a villain edit, who is shown struggling and who is shown improving, is decided by producers and editors, not by the public or the judges alone.
DWTS Ireland has faced allegations of bias before. In 2026 the Irish Mirror reported that viewers claimed the show was “fixed” when Ireland AM’s Elaine Crowley was eliminated despite scoring 18 points while celebrity chef Kevin Dundon, who had scored only 8, remained. Social media complaints pointed to both remaining RTE staff members appearing protected. RTE’s own roving reporter James Patrice emphasised that eliminations are edited for “raw emotion” and that producers prioritise the “initial shock” for social media. The Times criticised the show for “amping-up of the onscreen fanfare” and “conspicuous absence of excitement or compelling storylines,” with “fuss and folderol” compensating for weak narrative. The pattern is consistent: the edit shapes who the audience roots for.
Internationally, the same machinery is well documented. Parade reported that Danielle Fishel believed editing may have cost her a spot in the Dancing with the Stars Season 34 finale in 2025; her pre-performance package omitted the deeper narrative of her contemporary dance about impossible standards placed on women. The Daily Express cited former runner-up Kyle Massey’s claim that a mistake by winner Jennifer Grey in the finale was visible on the east coast live broadcast but removed from the west coast feed, with the final edit showing “perfect tens.” Reality Blurred and Collider have analysed how Top Chef and other competition shows cut hours of deliberation into a narrative that can make the wrong contestant look like the winner. The production company owns the footage and controls what airs and in what order.
Votes and scores are only part of the story
DWTS combines judges’ scores and viewer votes in a 50-50 split to decide eliminations; E! and TV Insider have explained how each couple’s share of the combined total determines who stays. Hilaria Baldwin was eliminated in Season 34 despite high judges’ scores while Andy Richter was saved from the bottom of the leaderboard, underlining that the show functions as a popularity contest as much as a dance competition. But popularity is not formed in a vacuum. Which contestants get sympathetic backstage packages, which get the “journey” arc, and which are framed as entitled or inconsistent is decided by the edit. Paudie himself told The Journal.ie that DWTS is “not called a dance competition, it’s called an entertainment show” and that he does not expect to win. That line was widely reported. The show chose to include it. The edit is the filter through which the public decides who to back.
What This Actually Means
Paudie Moloney’s “opinions are like noses” line is a fair response to online abuse. It does not change the fact that his presence in the final, and the way his journey has been framed, is partly a product of which soundbites and storylines RTE chose to include. The same edit that can lift an underdog can bury a front-runner. Viewers who think the outcome is purely down to dancing or even purely down to votes are missing how much of the result is built in the edit. That is not a conspiracy; it is how unscripted television works.
Who is Paudie Moloney?
Paudie Moloney is an Irish television personality who came to prominence on the first series of The Traitors Ireland in 2025. He was cast as a Traitor and eliminated in the ninth episode; his son Andrew also competed and was eliminated in the seventh. RTE revealed him as the second celebrity for the ninth series of Dancing with the Stars in January 2026; at 68 he is the oldest ever contestant, partnered with Laura Nolan. He has appeared on Gogglebox Ireland and in panto at the Olympia Theatre.
Sources
Limerick Leader, The Journal.ie, Irish Mirror, Parade, Daily Express