Balvinder Sopal has admitted she’s had ‘meltdowns’ backstage after being left in the bottom two on Strictly Come Dancing.
The EastEnders actress, 46, has faced the dreaded dance off not once but twice so far in the competition.
While she bounced back last week, earning 28 points for her Paso Doble with pro partner Julian Caillon, the lack of public support has taken its toll.
It comes as the star has not been at the bottom of the leaderboard and consistently receives positive scores and comments from the judges.
Balvinder admitted: ‘I’ve had meltdowns and things.’
She continued: ‘And I’m like, “holy hell. I’ve been lying about being optimistic”. I beat myself up and I’m sometimes a little bit derogatory but there’s no need to be that way.’
Balvinder Sopal has admitted she’s had ‘meltdowns’ backstage after being left in the bottom two on Strictly Come Dancing
While she bounced back last week, earning 28 points for her Paso Doble with pro partner Julian Caillon, the lack of public support has taken its toll
The soap star added to The Mirror: ‘When you get on that floor, there is a fear of judgment and rejection. But what I have to remember is that I’ve put myself there.’
Recalling the second time she learned she would dance off against Chris Robshaw, Balvinder said: ‘My heart just sank, I thought we’d done enough to come back from the week previous when we were, again, in the bottom two. I was crushed.’
This year Strictly bosses have taken head judge Shirley Ballas’ deciding vote privilage and shared it on a rolling basis with the other judges.
Last week it was Craig Revel-Horwood with the power, who stepped in and saved Balvinder from leaving the competition.
She said: ‘He saved us and I can’t thank him enough.’
Meanwhile, earlier this week Balvinder caused a stir on Loose Women when she accidentally made an X-rated comment about her dancing partner.
Reflecting on her time on the show so far, she told the panel: ‘I love being in the rehearsal room. I love being drilled by Julian.’
It was only after the second part of her comment that she realised what she had said and alongside the panel dissolved into giggles.
Last week Craig Revel-Horwood held the deciding vote out of the judges and stepped in to save Balvinder from leaving the competition
Julian seemingly didn’t know where to look and simply laughed and buried his face in his hands.
Kay Adams went on to stress: ‘This is live’ so that the inclusion of the X-rated comment in the show was understood by any shocked viewers.
Mercifully, fans of the show managed to see the funny side to the comment and took to social media to share their amusement after a clip of the comment was posted to Twitter/X.
One wrote: [This] has made my entire day! I love her so much!’;
A second chimed in: ‘She is so funny, it’s the realisation suddenly on her face.’
‘I can’t stop watching this,’ said a third amused fan.
While a fourth commented: ‘So so funny; what a beautiful smile she has.’
Reflecting on her time on the show so far, she told the panel: ‘I love being in the rehearsal room. I love being drilled by Julian.’
Julian seemingly didn’t know where to look and simply laughed and buried his face in his hands
Others, meanwhile, noted that the Strictly star appeared to be a little under the weather and shared their hopes that she makes a speedy recovery.
They wrote: ‘Lovely interview, she sounds a little run down, hope she’s okay.’
Another posted: ‘Oh no. Hope she’s ok. There’s a flu bug going round. Just had it myself.’
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and iPlayer.
