Strictly Come Dancing viewers have seen Balvinder Sopal in the dreaded dance-off twice during her time on the BBC show.
She recovered from her first Strictly Come Dancing dance off with a scorching Paso Doble that secured her an impressive 28 points from the judges.
But EastEnders star Balvinder Sopal has revealed how she felt “crushed” with rejection after then landing herself in the bottom two for the second consecutive week. This follows the news that Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly are stepping down from the show.
“I’ve had meltdowns and things,” she admits, confessing it’s been tough to remain upbeat. “And I’m like, ‘holy hell. I’ve been lying about being optimistic’.
“I beat myself up and I’m sometimes a little bit derogatory but there’s no need to be that way. When you get on that floor, there is a fear of judgment and rejection. But what I have to remember is that I’ve put myself there.”
Despite receiving decent scores for each of her previous two dances, the BBC star hasn’t garnered sufficient votes from viewers at home to escape being in the dreaded dance off. Both times she’s been rescued by the judges, with Ross King and then Chris Robshaw getting the boot instead, reports the Mirror.
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But recalling the moment she discovered the devastating news for a second time, Balvinder tells the Mirror: “My heart just sank, I thought we’d done enough to come back from the week previous when we were, again, in the bottom two. I was crushed.”
Last Saturday’s final outcome was a nail-biting affair, and audiences are well aware that if head judge Shirley Ballas still held the deciding vote, Balvinder would have been sent packing. Fortunately for her, that responsibility rested with Craig Revel Horwood.
“I’m so grateful to Craig and he’s one of the scariest judges, I think,” Balvinder reveals. “He saved us and I can’t thank him enough.”
Yet the entire bruising ordeal has left the soap star worried she’s proving far less beloved in reality than her Albert Square character, Suki Panesar. “Maybe they thought we were safe and so they didn’t vote for us,” she suggests.
“But every time Suki and [her Walford wife] Eve come on screen, my social media feeds go mad, message after message after message.
“So I’m like, ‘OK, what’s going on here? Surely you want to be supporting Suki?’ Maybe everybody doesn’t like Bal? I mean, who knows? But one thing is for sure, I don’t want to be in the dance off again.”
Admitting that the “feeling of insecurity” is difficult to dismiss, she and her Australian professional Julian Caillon, who is in his debut year on the programme, are resolved to give their all to this week’s routine.
“We’ve just got to nail our dance this week and make sure that we impress as much as we can. I’m trying not to carry any of the baggage of Saturday into this weekend.”
For the upcoming Icons Week, Balvinder is set to channel pop diva Beyonce as she and Jules quickstep their way through not Survivor, as some might have guessed, but the country tune Texas Hold ‘Em.
Will Balvinder avoid the dance-off this weekend?
Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday on BBC One from 6:25pm.
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