Strictly Come Dancing star Balvinder Sopal opened up about her astonishment at entering the bottom two the second time.
The EastEnders star, 46, is paired with pro partner Julian Caillon for the new season of the BBC competition series with the pair encountering plenty of highs and lows along the way.
Over the past two weeks they have had to fight for their place on the show with two dance-offs, one after the other including last week’s Paso Doble which earned only 28 points.
Eventually they beat Chris Robshaw and his pro Nadiya Bychkova but Balvinder has admitted to Metro she was completely blindslided by whole tense experience.
After ‘rising to the challenge’ of the first showdown, the soap star found it far more difficult to process they had been plunged into the same scenario so quickly once more.
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She said: ‘The second time, if I’m honest, I was a bit like: “what? seriously?”. I thought we’d done enough to not be and that threw me off balance.’
It was sentiment echoed by some fans online who had posted their shock as the couple’s inclusion in the bottom two – and even worried audiences might be getting Balvinder confused with her soap alter ego, Suki.
Now hardened to how easily it is to slip to the bottom, both of them are prepared to keep fighting if it happens again.
As Balvinder said: ‘Now I think if we’re in it again, then I certainly just have to take it on the chin and be like: “That’s cool. I get another chance, and it’s all going to be great.”
And Julian echoed: ‘We’ve done everything that we can, but we’re prepared. If it’s us, let’s do it. We’re up for the challenge. We’ll just keep fighting.’
The show has been hit with a series of shick withdrawals including Dani Dyer and, most recently, fellow soap star Stefan Dennis who injured his calf.
It has served as a ‘wake up call’ for the two of them.
‘Seeing Stefan go through what he went through made us realise that this could end at any point – whether you’re eliminated, whether you get injured, whatever happens,’ Julian said, adding that he doesn’t want to look back and think ‘we should have had more fun’.
Given it’s his first year on the UK version of Strictly (after previously competing in Australia), Julian noted there’s one major difference in his experience here.
He explained: ‘Just the scale of Strictly is still something that I always say I’m wrapping my head around.
‘Someone the other day was like: “what’s your job title now? I guess maybe dancer or TV personality.” I’m like: “That’s weird. I can’t say that.’
With hopes of returning to the show for more seasons, the show will undergo a huge shake-up after Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly confirmed they were leaving at the end of this year.
Who will take over and how this will affect the energy of the show remains to be seen.
Strictly Come Dancing results show airs on Sunday at 7:15pm on BBC One.
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