Fleur East reveals the REAL reason behind her tears on Saturday night's Strictly

Former X Factor star Fleur East has enjoyed a brilliant start to her Strictly Come Dancing journey, making it to Movie Week following her stunning Viennese Waltz with professional partner Vito Coppola on Saturday 2nd October.

Following Fleur's performance to 'Glimpse Of Us' by Joji, the singer was visibly moved at the end of the routine, shedding a tear and later getting emotional from the judges' comments.

After previously admitting the reason she decided to sign up for this year's Strictly Come Dancing was in honour of her late father, the 'Sax' hitmaker told host Claudia Winkleman her emotions had been building all day.

Speaking on her breakfast show on our sister station Hits Radio, Fleur told her co-hosts James and Matt the real reason for her tears, and its very moving.

She said: "All day I was trying to make sure I found the right emotion for this dance as I was really worried about going on there, being quite blank and empty and just doing the steps. I really wanted to commit to it.

"But just before we danced, I went to see my family who were sitting in the audience and my Uncle Sean lifted his arm to show me his wrist - and he was wearing my Dad’s bracelet. He didn’t even say anything to me, just showed it to me and that set me off. It was just seconds before I performed and with everything else and just being nervous, I started crying, blubbering!

"In rehearsals I have never acted that way before and as soon as I faced Vito in the dance for the first time he looked at me and his eyes were like ‘oh my gosh she’s crying’ and then immediately he got more into the emotion of it and we were both just really overwhelmed by the end of it."

Check out all of the pairings on this year's Strictly Come Dancing:

Following the announcement back in August that Fleur would be taking on Strictly, she spoke about her late father, who sadly passed away in 2020.

She said: "I’m equally nervous and thrilled to be part of this year’s Strictly line up. I’m excited to learn new skills and I want to soak up every moment of this magical experience. It’s such an honour to be on the show after years of watching it with my Father who loved it so much.

"Unfortunately my Dad is no longer with us but I know he will be watching over the ballroom in spirit. I’m doing this to make him and my family proud and can’t wait to get my dancing shoes on!"

Fleur and Vito scored an impressive 29 out of 40 for the second consecutive week, which helped them sail through to next Saturday's Movie Week.

Sunday night's results show saw Loose Women star Kaye Adams depart from the show, following a tense dance-off alongside Matt Goss.

Strictly Come Dancing airs every Saturday night on BBC One.

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• Fleur East
• Strictly Come Dancing