Helen Skelton became emotional on Strictly Come Dancing while talking about what the show has done for her confidence.
The Countryfile presenter started crying when speaking about how the show has made her into a different person before her Saturday night performance with Gorka Marquez.
Helen’s voice cracked as she started opening up about how being on the show had helped improve her confidence – which led to Gorka give the star a supportive hug.
The mum-of-three from Appleby said the Blackpool special had been her favourite week so far and that the best reaction to her Blackpool quickstep had come from her dad, who said he was incredibly proud of her.
Helen said: “He just looked at me and said ‘you seem like you again’ and I’m certainly a different person than when we started, and for me, what has been-”
She went on to cover her face while becoming visibly emotional, telling Gorka: “Sorry, I’m sorry,” as he reassured her.
She added: “I think even you say I’m a different person from day one, right?” to which he agreed.
Helen has been open about her self-confidence journey throughout the show, after judges encouraged the star in week one to believe in herself.
On Saturday night, judge Shirley Balass said: “You know sometimes for me the personality can be larger than life. Self-belief is a major key to life. And I’ve watched you from the very beginning and I’ve seen you come out this evening with this new found confidence and this beautiful personality with Gorka.”
The professional dancer’s praise comes after he acknowledged earlier this month that the star was having a rough time following her high profile split from ex-husband Richie Myler.
Live on air, Gorka wrapped his arm around Helen and said: “I know you’ve been having a difficult time and I know you may feel like you’re not beautiful or good enough or anything. But if you don’t believe in yourself, I believe in you. Everybody here believes in you.”
Despite landing in the bottom two of the leader board this week, the star is still a favourite to win the competition. This week’s results show is set to be televised at at 6pm. The star performed a samba to Eso Beso by Emma Bunton which left them with a score of 29.
