Wicklow dancer reveals all about his home town on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ Australia

Tristan – best known for his professional appearances on Dancing with the Stars and Strictly Come Dancing – grew up in Bray, where he attended Colaiste Raithin and St Kilian’s. From his early days as a dancer, he went on to win numerous European competitions, performed in theatre productions throughout Ireland, joined the UK tour of Simply Ballroom and, after a successful tour in London and Las Vegas, went on to Australia and America.

He made his first appearance on the twelfth season of Dancing with the Stars on ABC, in 2011, as part of the ‘dance troupe’, and returned for the following season to compete. Over the years, he’s had some interesting partners, including Gladys Night, Pamela Anderson, Olympic gold medalist Dorothy Hamill, before joining the joining the British edition of the show, Strictly Come Dancing, in 2014, where his first celebrity partner for the series was Mrs Brown's Boys actress, Jennifer Gibney. He would also go on to sweep Rachel Stevens and singer Jamelia off their feet, before hanging up his dancing shoes and appearing as a judge on Dancing with the Stars in Australia, in 2019.

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He would go on to host the live morning programme on Australian TV, called Studio 10, until it was axed last year. But no celebrity is ever safe, as long as a fresh supply of jungle tucker is needed for the gorefest that is I’m a Celebrity. And the 10th season has kicked off with Tristand already hitting the news Down Under for this big secret, which he gets to reveal in that grotty little shed.

News.com.au reports that “former Studio 10 host Tristan MacManus has opened up about keeping his dancing career a secret over fears people would speculate about his sexuality.”

"The TV presenter, 41, who is married to Australian actress Tahyna MacManus (nee Tozzi), discussed the ‘embarrassment’ he carried while privately practising dance,” it continues, before quoting Tristan directly.

“I finished competitive dancing because I hurt my knee, and I got to an age where I was embarrassed by it,” he said. “I happened to be good at something that wasn’t a good thing to be good at. It just wasn’t what you did where I was from.

“The town I grew up in [Bray] was very much a tough town. Manly men. So being a ballroom dancer in that scenario wasn’t a very comfortable situation to be in. I kept it a secret for an awful long time.

"A lot of the things people were saying about dancers, I believed a lot of that as well, who you had to be, what type of person you were, if you were gay. And I knew the people I danced with, I really liked them and wanted to be around them, and I felt embarrassed that I didn’t defend my friends in that way.”

You can follow Tristan: @tristanmacmanus