Interview

Shane Byrne: ‘I was dropped from the Irish squad twice because of my hair’

Shane Byrne was always a man of great ability and superhuman self-possession – but he didn’t always know how to apply his gifts

‘I’m very good at doing what I’m told, and Karen’s only happy to tell me’: Shane Byrne with his Dancing with the Stars partner Karen Byrne in her dance studio. Picture: Bryan Meade

When Shane Byrne, the former Irish rugby number two famed for his mullet hairstyle, first committed to reality television in 2012, he was deep in the trenches of a thick, handlebar moustache.

It was November, and Byrne had already committed to the popular Movember initiative of growing facial hair for charity. This cause led to him taking part in Celebrity Come Dine with Me Ireland, in which he cooked three courses for four guests to ...