Rhys McClenaghan 'reeling in' the Dancing with the Stars win

Olympic gold medal gymnast Rhys McClenaghan and his pro partner Laura Nolan have won Irish broadcaster RTÉ's Dancing with the Stars.

The 25-year-old, from County Down said he is "just reeling in it" and said the moment he won was "a weird one".

"Gymnastics competitions don't work like that, you get the scores up front and you know your competitors…. this was completely blind. You had no idea."

Rhys and his partner Laura were competing against three other couples in the final on Sunday night.

When the announcement was made Rhys and his partner looked visibly stunned.

Rhys told BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme he "leapt" at the opportunity to take part in the TV show but might hang his dancing shoes up for now.

"I think it's where I'm going to park it for now.

"I don't know what opportunities lie in terms of dancing – I'm just reeling in it."

The next adventure for Rhys is moving into his new house with his girlfriend.

"That's an exciting next chapter. I'm looking forward to going home and settling in."

Asked where he's going to put the glitter ball trophy he said he needs to "finish putting the floors down" on the new house" before thinking about where it goes.

His parents, Tracy and Danny watched on as their son and Laura took home the coveted Glitterball trophy.

The other couples who took part in the grand finale were Mrs. Brown's Boys actor Danny O'Carroll and Salome Chachua, social media influencer Kayleigh Trappe and Ervinas Merfeldas, Taekwondo athlete Jack Woolley and Alex Vladimirov.

Each of the four couples had to perform two dances for the judges during the final.

The first dance of the evening was the judges' choice with each couple performing a routine from a previous week.

Rhys reprised his movie week role of Spider-Man as he and his partner Laura danced the Charleston to the iconic film tune.

Rhys told BBC's Good Morning Ulster that he had to be the iconic marvel hero.

"I've always been a spiderman fan, from the age I could walk.

"I leapt at the opportunity, kids around the country loved that too and could relate to it so much."

For the second dance each couple performed their show dance which allowed them to combine different dance styles and skills they had learned during the competition.

Rhys and Laura took to the floor for the last time and danced to Beautiful Things by Benson Boone.

They scored the maximum of 40 points from the four judges during both their routines but their win was ultimately decided by a public vote.

Speaking after their second dance, Rhys said: "I feel amazing. What a way to finish an incredible journey.

"I feel like I've learnt a lot about myself, one of those things being, embrace challenge, embrace fear to do things.

"I was terrified this whole season, I really was, but embrace it and then you'll find out more things about yourself and find out, you know, who you really are."

"Everything that I've thrown at you, you've just embraced and said, 'yep', and really rose to the challenge every time," Laura said in response.

"I just want to take this opportunity to thank you, you have honestly made this whole journey incredible and you've been a dream to work with."

Ahead of the finale, Rhys and Laura travelled to his home gym in Newtownards where he was greeted by dozens of young, aspiring gymnasts.

During the visit, Laura described him as a "dream student".

His victory on Dancing with the Stars comes less than a year after McClenaghan won an Olympic gold on the pommel horse in Paris.