Tom Fletcher has spoken out after his shock exit from Strictly Come Dancing.
The McFly star and his pro partner Amy Dowden were the latest couple to leave Strictly Come Dancing on Sunday night.
The pair danced a Couples Choice routine to On My Own in the bottom two in Sunday’s results show against Rhys Stephenson after musicals week.
Speaking on Monday on It Takes Two, Tom and Amy spoke exclusively with Rylan about their time on Strictly.
Tom said of his musicals week performance: “I loved it. It was a really special one. I did it for my sister who is a musical theatre actor. It was the first time I had a real personal connection to the dance.
“It felt completely different dancing with an emotional connection like that so I loved it. The fact we got to do it twice was quite special and leaving on a dance that meant something to me was sort of perfect.”
He continued: “When you’re doing it for someone, you don’t want to let them down and it’s Les Mis, everyone loves Les Mis and it’s an amazing song, so the pressure is on. But you try to put that to one side and just be in the moment.
“I genuinely felt like both times we danced it, I forgot about everything. I forgot about the pressures of the dance off and we just danced it twice and I loved it both times.”
Meanwhile Amy shared: “When I watch that dance back, and I’ve watched it so many times, I couldn’t have asked for any more from Tom. To have learnt that [dance] in four days, with full on choreography and to dance it the way he did, I felt the emotion on every single step.
“Tom was playing the part of Marius and as for the musical, Tom delivered the correct emotion for every movement in that dance.”
Tom added: “It felt that was quite difficult going into the dance off. Either I gave the judges what they wanted or stayed true to the story. All the lifts were choreographed as unrequited love so every time Amy came to be lifted, it was me pushing Amy away so I felt that was the story we were trying to tell. It’s such a well loved musical and I wanted to do that story justice.”
Looking back at his and Amy’s best bits from their time on the show, Tom reflected: “I have definitely found a new love and passion for dancing which I never ever thought I’d have.”
Wiping away tears, he added: “I’m only crying because I had the best time and I am so happy to have done the show.”
Later, Tom took to Instagram with a message for his fans: “What can I say…I am, of course absolutely gutted to have been voted off @bbcstrictly but the competition is so high this year that I’m amazed and proud that I got as far as I did! Going out on Musicals Week with a dance that genuinely meant something to me was actually really special.
“The truth is though, that as much as I’ll miss the excitement of the live show on a Saturday night, the thing I’ll miss the most is simply hanging out with Amy every day. We have had so much fun and after 11 weeks of dancing with her every day it feels very strange to be sitting in a quiet, empty house today! But I know that the only reason it’s sad and a little difficult today is because I’ve had such a good time and I’m really thankful for that.
“I’m so grateful to the WHOLE @bbcstrictly team for inviting me to be part of this special show and partnering me with Amy. I can’t wait to see how the next few weeks play out for everyone still dancing. What a series!!!”
Strictly – It Takes Two continues every weeknight at 6:30PM on BBC Two. Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday and Sunday nights on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Picture: (C) BBC
