Strictly judges may keep actress Kym Marsh on her toes, but her harshest critic is herself.
Serious self-doubt harks back to her school days when bullies picked on her because of her love for performing arts.
Dance partner Graziano Di Prima has even removed mirrors to stop Kym over-analysing in the training studio.
But the mum of three has shown she can conquer her insecurities and says of Strictly: “It’s like therapy.”
Waterloo Road star Kym, 46, adds: “I was bullied quite badly when I was a kid, when I was in my high school.
“And that really knocked me, it took a lot out of me as a child.
“I think I’ve carried that with me. It’s almost like imposter syndrome. It’s a bit like, ‘I don’t really know why I’m here. I don’t know why anyone’s interested in me’.
“For example, if we got the routine right I’m thinking about the one step I didn’t get completely right. I think it’s because I am my worst enemy.
“No one can say anything about me that is worse than what I can already think about myself.”
Kym escaped the bullies by moving from Byrchall High School in Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancs, to Liverpool’s Elliot-Clarke Stage School, 18 miles away.
It paid off famously. She became a pop star with Hear’Say before finding acting fame as Michelle Connor in Coronation Street.
Now she is in BBC school drama Waterloo Road – fitting Strictly practice around her film schedule.
Not to mention her duties as a mum, of course. She has Polly, 11, and grown-up kids David, 27, and Emilie, 25.
Husband Scott Ratcliff, 34 – a major in the Parachute Regiment – is her rock and watches her perform each week.
Kym and Graziano, 28, found themselves in the dance-off against Matt Goss, 54, three weeks ago but were saved by the judges.
They have bounced back and were third on the leaderboard last weekend.
So isn’t that success a two-fingered salute to the bullies who made her life a misery at school?
“Absolutely. It is,” she says with a shy smile.
Kym and Graziano – who tackled the Argentine tango last night – are desperate to make it to at least November 19, when stars perform at Blackpool’s iconic Tower Ballroom.
“It’d be amazing,” says Kym. “I love Blackpool! It was always somewhere that I went as a kid with my parents. I still take my kids to the Pleasure Beach, and my grandchildren now, as well, we just love it.
“But to dance at Blackpool would be just a dream come true, it would be incredible. We’re putting it out there in the universe. We’re manifesting it!”
