Fleur East has explained the reason behind her emotional appearance following her latest performance on Strictly Come Dancing. The Hits Radio host was overcome with emotion as she finished her second routine of the brand new series of the BBC One show alongside professional dance partner Vito Coppola.
Following their energetic Cha Cha Cha in week one, the dancing couple performed a romantic Viennese waltz to Glimpse Of Us by Joji, and singer and present Fleur teared-up as the dance drew to an end. The show's new Italian dancer Vito pulled her in for a comforting hug.
And as they headed over to get their comments, Strictly host Tess Daly told the pair: "That was dreamy," before realising how overwhelmed Fleur had become.
She paused proceedings and asked the 34-year-old: "You alright Fleur?" She then commented as Felur and Vito made their way over to the panel: "You were feeling all the emotions weren't you, my darling? You shed a little tear. Oh sweetheart." After the judges delivered their verdicts and Fleur made her way up the stairs to speak with Claudia Winkleman and to get her week two scores.
But Tess urged her gently: "Get a tissue my love." Claudia greeted her sympathetically, saying: "It got to you." To which Fleur replied: "It really did. Yeah I'm tired," as she shared how she's up at 4am every day to present the breakfast show before training for the hit dance competition.
And as she returned to Hits Radio, which is based in Greater Manchester, this week, she spoke to James Barr about what triggered her to break down. "Fleur, congratulations! You're through to Movie Week, we're very proud of you," James said to her as she cheerily replied: "Thank you!"
"You were very emotional on Saturday though..." James added to which Fleur replied: "I think all day, like I said, I was just like, 'I really need to make sure I give the right emotion for this'. And then just before I went out there I went to see my family who were in the audience.
"My uncle Sean was sitting in the crowd and he just lifted up his arm to show me his wrist and he was wearing my dad's bracelet. He didn't even say anything to me. He just showed it to me and I just looked at him and I was like, 'Oh my goodness!'" She added: "So that kind of set me off and then 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 he said immediately then he got more into the emotion of it."
When she was revealed as one of the contestants for the 20th series of Strictly, Fleur became emotional as she shared the poignant reason for saying 'yes' to taking part this year. "I hope I get to dance to some of my songs… for me it’s quite emotional. My dad who passed away in 2020, Strictly was his favourite show," she told Ranvir Singh who was filling in for Lorraine Kelly on her self-titled ITV show, Lorraine.
Begging to get emotional, she said of her dad Malcolm, who died in 2020: "I’m going to be doing it for him. I’m just gutted he can’t see me do it, but I’m going to keep him in mind during the show… I’m excited, my family, just for that reason, will be buzzing." Fleur added: "I wasn’t expecting to get this emotional about it."
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