Damian McGinty has recalled getting detention in school after a hilarious mishap during a Home Economics class.
The highlights of his schools days in Derry were rotisserie chicken sandwiches for lunch and when the TV was rolled into the classroom for big events.
The former Glee star turned Dancing with the Stars favourite got to pursue his love of music as during his adolescent days, but he wasn't a singer he would be working in numbers.
Read more: Damian McGinty on his wedding, life in Nashville, Glee controversies and finding fame at 14
Damian told RSVP Magazine: "I never got detention until my second year of secondary school. A friend and I were tragically cooking something in Home Economics.
"We were always messers and we were throwing this blade from a broken sharpener at each other.
"The next thing the blade flew out of my hand and into the blender. It was a complete accident, but nobody ever believed us. We both got detention for it. It was my first and last detention."
Damian's earliest memory of school is his very first day.
He recalled: "My mammy took me into nursery school when I was about four years old. Most of the other kids were already in the classroom and I stood at the door feeling absolutely terrified. I was that child who was shy and scared and didn’t want to go into school.
"I had a Toy Story lunchbox. I was a big Toy Story and lunchbox fan.
"I always had sandwiches and Monday was my favourite day because there would always be rotisserie chicken left over from the Sunday dinner.
"Having that was like having a royal lunch sandwich. I always had a biscuit and a packet of crisps as well."
As a singer, Damian performed at school.
The Dancing with the Stars finalist said: "We had a leavers’ Mass before I moved from primary school into secondary school and I sang Westlife’s Queen Of My Heart. The lyrics were changed to 'Here In My Heart' though. I took any chance to sing that I could, I loved it."
How was he with exams? Damian said: "I would have gotten quite tense because I’ve always been annoyingly competitive.
"Whenever there were quizzes or exams, it was always me and another fella called Matthew who were top of the class.
"We were good friends, but we were also arch enemies. Being honest, he was definitely smarter than I was. I never let that be apparent.
"I have always struggled with the different education systems north and south, that has always confused me. I live in America and it’s different again with elementary school, junior high and high school. Why is there not just one system?"
Damian remembers the TV being rolled into the classroom.
He said: "I remember well the TV being rolled into our classroom so we could watch Ireland playing in the World Cup in 2002. It is a core memory for me.
"The school we were in at the time was being rebuilt and we were in these prefabs and they were always freezing."
Damian was really good at Maths and he still love numbers.
He said: "If I wasn’t in the entertainment industry I would be working with numbers as a career.
"My least favourite subject was Chemistry. I was absolutely awful at it and I hated it. It was chemicals thinly veiled as numbers."
This interview appeared in the September 2023 issue of RSVP Magazine
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