Strictly star Fleur East has revealed the reason for her tears on the live show on Saturday night, citing personal circumstances.
Last week, fifteen famous faces performed live for the first time on the Strictly Come Dancing ballroom. This weekend’s shows pitted the contestants against one another for the first public vote. Since then, fifteen participants have been whittled down to fourteen.
Fleur survived the public vote and will dance again next week. Still, despite managing to stay in the competition, Fleur was clearly emotional in Saturday night’s live show.
Fleur and partner Vito Coppola danced to the Viennese Waltz. Shortly thereafter, Fleur cried and hugged Vito in a passionate way.
Strictly presenter Tess Daly even called out for someone to give Fleur, 34, a tissue.
She later told Tess’ co-presenter Claudia Winkleman that emotion had been brewing inside her all day on Saturday.
While speaking to her co-stars and listeners on her radio show, however, Fleur explained in detail why she got emotional after her dance.
Fleur East on Strictly
On Monday 3 October, Fleur, who is the presenter of Hits Radio Breakfast Show, explained the situation to audiences. She also relayed the details to co-hosts James and Matt.
Fleur’s dad, Malcolm, passed away during the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, the star talked to Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous show about how devastating the grief she experienced was.
Fleur explained to her radio listeners that dancing in honour of her father was what made her so emotional.
The presenter said: “All day I was trying to make sure I found the right emotion for this dance, as I was really worried about going on there, being quite blank and empty and just doing the steps. I really wanted to commit to it.
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“But just before we danced, I went to see my family who were sitting in the audience and my Uncle Sam lifted his arm to show me his wrist. He was wearing my dad’s bracelet.
“He didn’t even say anything to me, just showed it to me and that set me off. It was just seconds before I performed and with everything else and just being nervous, I started crying. Blubbering!”
Fleur revealed that partner Vito had a sympathetic reaction to her.
She added: “In rehearsals, I have never acted that way before and as soon as I faced Vito in the dance for the first time, he looked at me and his eyes were like ‘Oh my gosh, she’s crying’ and then immediately he got more into the emotion of it and we were both just really overwhelmed by the end of it.”
Fleur shows support for fellow Strictly contestant
As well as discussing her father’s death, Fleur revealed to her listeners that she was intimidated by the elimination process.
“The wait to find out results is agonising,” Fleur explained. “I had to sit around and pray. It was tricky to even go to the loo as my dress was stitched to my underwear!”
Fleur went on to say that she will miss co-star Kaye Adams. The Loose Women panellist was given the boot in last night’s results show. Singer Matt Goss defeated Kaye in a tight-knit final bid to stay in the competition.
“I’m going to miss Kaye, honestly,” said Fleur, adding that she was “so sad on Sunday but she’s still in the WhatsApp group and will be until the end”.
Fleur also said: “I didn’t want anyone to go, I just wish we could all do it every single week, all fifteen of us, and then right at the end just do one vote. I am emotionally attached!”
Read more: Strictly 2022 star Fleur East reveals ‘psychic good luck message from late dad’ ahead of appearance
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