After having a panic attack on live television, a former Britain’s Got Talent kid star admitted she required counselling.
Hollie Steel, then 10, auditioned for the third season of the talent show in 2009, beginning with a ballet performance before singing I Could Have Danced All Night from the musical My Fair Lady.
With a standing ovation from the crowd, all four judges advanced her to the next round.
She advanced to the semi-finals, but had to quit mid-performance due to a panic attack when singing Edelweiss from The Sound of Music.
Hollie, now 24, has spoken about the significance of that occasion.
She explained that when she gets nervous, she starts to swallow, and when that happened on stage, she ‘couldn’t control it’ and ‘didn’t have the capacity to gain back control of the panic attack’.
‘I was thinking, “oh no, it’s happened again. Keep going, keep singing. Oh no, Simon looks disappointed. Keep going. Smile”,’ she said when reflecting on the nerves that had taken over.
‘I was thinking, “I need to keep going, and there was a point where it was like, I need to give up. I need to start again”.’
Hollie, who now works as a performer, revealed that following that event, she had to go through treatment to overcome her anxiety of going on stage.
‘I know I have a lot of trauma even from 14 years ago, which is crazy thinking about it,’ she added when speaking to The Sun.
‘When I get on stage, sometimes I go back to that moment when I’m on TV and I’m about to have a panic attack.’
Hollie claimed she had to ‘dig deep to accept the panic attacks for what they are and just keep going through it all’ during her therapy sessions.
When Hollie stopped singing during her performance, sobbing and pleading for a chance to resume, presenters Ant & Dec and judge Amanda Holden came her on stage to console her.
While producers initially said that there wasn’t time in the show to have her try again, Simon Cowell said he ‘didn’t care how we find it, but we will find time somewhere’, and she was given a second chance.
Making it through to the final, Hollie eventually finished in sixth place, with the season won by Diversity.
Britain’s Got Talent continues on Sunday at 8pm on ITV.