Strictly’s Annabel Croft has broken down in tears after speaking about her regret at losing out on a spot in the final.
The 57-year-old former tennis star joined up for the BBC show after her husband Mel Coleman died of colon cancer in May, only weeks after being diagnosed, at the age of 60.
She was paired with veteran dancer Johannes Radebe, 36, and the couple advanced to the semi-finals before being eliminated on Sunday night.
Their elimination occurred as a result of a catastrophic blunder in one routine that saw her tumble across the floor.
While reflecting on the event, she has spoken more about her disappointment at not making the final.
During an interview on It Takes Two with Johannes, Annabel claimed she was ‘hard not to feel bewildered’ by the events of the last several months.
As clips of them on the show played, in which Annabel had told her partner he’d given her ‘a reason to get out of bed’, she started to tear up.
‘Oh, that is quite hard [to watch],’ she said.
When host Fleur East asked Johannes what he would miss most about Annabel, he responded “her smile.”
‘Every day you walked into that studio and how eager you were to learn how to dance, and you were not here for the glory of it all and I hope you know how proud I am of you,’ he told Annabel.
‘So, thank you for every day my darling.’
Annabel went on to say how tough it was to reflect on their experience on the programme since it was a “rollercoaster ride.”
‘We laughed hysterically through many rehearsals and cried a lot and went through the motions together, so it has been the most extraordinary journey,’ she said.
‘You are the most amazing teacher. You’re passion and detail, you are extraordinary.’
She went on to explain how she felt she’d won the Glitterball Trophy as she had ‘this enormous ball of glitter next to me’.
‘From the moment we met it was like we’d won because I had the most amazing partner,’ she said, as Johannes then started to cry.
Earlier in the performance, the two expressed their disappointment at not making it to the final.
‘It’s just been the most magical 12 weeks. I enjoyed so much from it, from start to finish,’ she said.
‘If someone had said to me you might get to week 12, I’d have never believed it. I’m a little bit sad that I couldn’t get us to the final and of course, we’d have loved to get through, but we had some stiff competition.’
Meanwhile he added: ‘I was extremely disappointed but like Annabel said, we did have some stiff competition.
‘I’m happy for what we had, I’m very content, but I would have loved to take Annabel to the final.’
EastEnders’ Bobby Brazier, Coronation Street’s Ellie Leach, and Bad Education’s Layton Williams are the three contenders this season.
The Strictly Come Dancing final airs Saturday at 7pm on BBC One.
