Strictly’s Balvinder Sopal admits she’s had ‘meltdowns’ backstage that haven’t been seen on-screen after finding herself in the bottom two

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Balvinder Sopal has confessed to experiencing emotional breakdowns behind the scenes after finding herself in the dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing.

The 46-year-old EastEnders star has surprisingly ended up in the dance-off two times during the competition.

Although she performed well last week, scoring 28 points for her Paso Doble with Julian Caillon, the low level of public votes has clearly affected her spirits.

The celebrity has consistently performed well, never finishing with the lowest score and always receiving praise from the judges.

Balvinder admitted: ‘I’ve had meltdowns and things.’  

Honestly, it just hit me – I realized I’ve totally been pretending to be positive all this time! I started getting down on myself, you know, being really harsh, but then I thought, ‘Wait, there’s absolutely no point in being that way!’ It was a real wake-up call, and I’m trying to be kinder to myself now.

The actor told The Mirror that going on stage brings a fear of being judged or turned down, but they remind themselves they chose to be there.

Balvinder remembered feeling devastated when she found out she’d be dancing against Chris Robshaw again. She explained, ‘I was so disheartened, we thought we’d improved enough after being in the bottom two the week before. It really knocked me down.’

This season on Strictly Come Dancing, the show’s producers have changed how the deciding vote works. Instead of head judge Shirley Ballas always having the final say, that power will now rotate between all of the judges.

Craig Revel-Horwood used his power last week to keep Balvinder from being eliminated from the competition.

She said: ‘He saved us and I can’t thank him enough.’ 

Balvinder recently caused a bit of a fuss on the show Loose Women when she unintentionally made a suggestive remark about her dance partner.

She shared with the judges that she’s really enjoying her time on the show, especially the chance to rehearse and receive feedback from Julian.

She didn’t realize what she’d said until she finished her comment, and then she and the panel all started laughing.

Julian seemingly didn’t know where to look and simply laughed and buried his face in his hands.

Kay Adams quickly clarified that the show was being broadcast live, explaining why the inappropriate comment had been aired and to reassure any viewers who were surprised or upset.

Luckily, viewers found the comment humorous and shared their reactions on social media after a clip of it appeared on Twitter/X.

One wrote: [This] has made my entire day! I love her so much!’;

A second chimed in: ‘She is so funny, it’s the realisation suddenly on her face.’

‘I can’t stop watching this,’ said a third amused fan.

While a fourth commented: ‘So so funny; what a beautiful smile she has.’

Many viewers also noticed the celebrity seemed unwell and wished her a quick recovery.

They wrote: ‘Lovely interview, she sounds a little run down, hope she’s okay.’

Another posted: ‘Oh no. Hope she’s ok. There’s a flu bug going round. Just had it myself.’

Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and iPlayer. 

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2025-10-25 03:03