Will Mellor cried as he dedicated his Strictly Come Dancing debut to his late father.
The Coronation Street actor lost his dad Bill in April 2020, just two weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer, and Will has admitted his dad's passing had a big effect on him. He had previously explained that he did the show in honour of his late dad.
As he and his partner Nancy Xu took to the dancefloor to perform to Livin’ La Vida Loca by Ricky Martin, Will was given eights and nines by the judges and ended up with a huge 34 out of 40. Emotional, Will praised Nancy for her incredible teaching skills before making everyone very teary as he thanked his mum and paid tribute to his late father.
Speaking with host Claudia Winkleman, Will gave his mum a shout out before thanking her and his dad, who passed away two years ago, and dedicating their dance and their high score to him.
Will had previously explained how it was just the "right timing" for him to do the show and how he wanted to do the programme to honour his parents, especially his father whose death "crippled" him.
"It was just the right timing. We have our reasons for when we do things in life and I would genuinely be frightened of doing stuff like this and saying no to stuff, because I was worried about what people will think and, 'If I do that, will that change that?'" he said.
"And then I lost my dad in 2020 and everything changed and it just crippled me. I thought, 'I've got to grab life, I've got to do stuff.' It really changed my mindset and I've just got to say yes to more things. I'm going to say yes to more stuff."
He shared: "I've got to grab life and create memories. Because that's what you end up in life - with memories. And it's my mum's favourite show and she's had the worst time of it, so I thought we've got to have a bit of positive in our lives."
When it was announced Will would be on the show, he said he wanted to "grab life".
"I'm honestly so chuffed to be taking part in Strictly Come Dancing this year! "Not going to lie, it's totally out of my comfort zone and I know it will be a huge challenge but that's what life is all about. I lost my dad in 2020 and from then I've just thought I've got to grab life - I've got to do things and create new memories," he said.
"My mindset changed and that's the reason why. This is also my mum's favourite show and she's had a really tough few years so I'm doing this is for her as well. Bring it on!"
*Strictly Come Dancing returns live at 6:30pm on Saturday on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
