“The EastEnders actress, 46, was saved last week when against the former England Rugby captain, Chris Robshaw , and again in the second week against presenter, Ross King .”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
The EastEnders actress, 46, was saved last week when against the former England Rugby captain, Chris Robshaw, and again in the second week against presenter, Ross King.
But internet trolls and the tough rehearsal schedule has taken a toll on her mental health.
She told the Mail on Sunday: ‘I am really surprised at how mentally taxing it has been, I don’t know why.
‘Because it’s not just the dancing you have to think about, it’s everything else around it. It’s balancing work life, family life and then all the stuff that you might see online because we’ve been in the dance off twice.
‘It’s people’s opinions and attitudes stuff but you just have to stop that sometimes you have to get out of your head and enjoy it because that’s what we’re here for.’
Two years ago, the actress Amanda Abbington revealed she had been diagnosed with mild PTSD after the show, ‘for several reasons both personal and professional’ and spoke of an exhausting rehearsal schedule.
Meanwhile the long-time hosts Tess Daly, 56, and Claudia Winkelman, 53, made a shock announcement this week they would be leaving the show together after this series.
Claudia is going on to host a chat show with the same producers as Graham Norton, while it was always agreed she and Tess would leave the BBC show at the same time.
Opening up about how the current cast of Strictly feel about the announcement, Balvinder l said: ‘Some of us are quite sad because it is the end of an era.
‘They are of the old school of Strictly, the time of Len Goodman and Bruce Forsythe, they bring all of that legacy with them.
‘So when they depart, we’re going to have two new people that are going to change direction, it will be a completely different show.’
She added: ‘Claudia is so funny and they’re so organic. They really are the best friends, they’re the matriarchs of the show and they’ve taken care of the show in the best possible way.’
Meanwhile Kristina Rihanoff has insisted that Strictly’s ‘golden era is long gone and it’s just about scandals and wrongdoing now’ after the hosts announced their departure.
The 48-year-old, who was a professional dancer on the BBC show between 2008 and 2015, has lifted the lid on what she thinks about the news that shocked the nation on Thursday.
Speaking to GB News, Kristina said: ‘It is very sad for the show to lose those wonderful two ladies.
‘In my eight years on Strictly, it was always wonderful to have them around. The golden era of Strictly was kind of over when we lost Brucey and Len.
‘There was always a lot of comfort being with Claudia upstairs. She was very sweet and always supportive, as was Tess.
‘From my perspective as a dancer, you always felt really good around them.
‘They were not judgmental, they were not judges, just very comforting. I really loved having them around.’
There have been plenty of scandals surrounding the show over the years, including Graziano Di Prima’s sacking, Giovanni Pernice’s ‘bullying’ row and the famous Strictly ‘curse’.
Kristina added: ‘When I joined back in 2008 with John Sergeant, it was a show that gave people a platform to renew and boost their careers.
‘Now it is all about scandals and wrongdoing.’
During her time on the show, Kristina narrowly missed out on the top spot a number of times.
She placed second with Blue singer Simon Webbe in 2012 and third in the ninth series with Jason Donovan.