Chris Appleton Breaks Down in Tears as He Reflects on His Short-Lived Strictly Come Dancing Journey

Chris Appleton struggled to hold back tears during Monday’s episode of Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two as he reflected on his emotional experience on the BBC dance show.

The 43-year-old celebrity hairdresser and his professional partner Amy Dowden became the first couple to leave this year’s competition after being eliminated on Sunday evening, October 4. The judges unanimously chose to save Jaime Winstone, bringing Chris’s time on the dance floor to an early end.

During Monday’s It Takes Two, host Ellie Taylor welcomed Chris and Amy onto the show to discuss their departure and look back at their time together.

The emotions quickly surfaced when a montage featuring some of Chris’s best moments from the competition was shown. As the clips played, Chris became visibly overwhelmed and began wiping away tears.

The studio audience responded with a huge round of applause.

Ellie acknowledged the moment, telling Chris: “I can see you’re clearly really emotional about this; this has meant a lot to you.”

She then asked what he thought he would take away from his experience on Strictly. Chris attempted to answer but soon became emotional again.

“Why did you have to show that? Oh my god, it’s just been a phenomenal experience,” he said.

He then began talking about a conversation he had with his children before leaving to perform on Saturday, October 3.

“I think I’ll take away from it, hopefully I said to my kids on Saturday before I left, ‘Guys, no matter how’… I can’t even talk.”

After taking a moment to compose himself, Chris explained that performing on the show had pushed him far beyond his comfort zone.

He admitted there were moments when he felt he could not go through with it, saying: “I literally would go out there shaking, I did it anyway.”

He continued by describing how Amy helped him find the confidence to keep going.

“There were times where I was like, ‘I’m not sure I can do this’, but I did it. All I did was look back at Amy, I’d see her smile, and I knew she was with me.”

For Chris, that support captured what made his Strictly experience so meaningful.

“And you know what? That says something about the show, to have people that care so much about you.”

Chris praises the people behind Strictly

Chris also took the opportunity to praise the production team and the many people who work behind the scenes to make the BBC programme possible.

The experience, he said, had been much more than simply learning to dance and performing each weekend.

“It really is a journey, it’s a phenomenal one, and if you’re lucky enough to do it, jump at it because it’s amazing. But it’s a journey.”

His comments came after what had been an emotional weekend for the pair, with Chris becoming the first celebrity contestant to leave the series.

Amy Dowden admits she was gutted by Chris’s exit

Amy was also asked about Chris’s elimination and how she felt watching his Strictly journey come to an end so soon.

The professional dancer admitted she was “gutted” that they would not have the opportunity to continue competing.

Amy explained that she had seen a noticeable change in Chris from the beginning of their partnership to his final performances.

“From the first day up till obviously dancing on Saturday night and again in that dance-off, he grew and grew and started to believe in himself,” she told Ellie.

She said Chris had made significant progress between the first and second weeks of the competition and believed there was still considerable potential for him to develop.

“I’m just gutted that we didn’t get the opportunity to continue because, honestly, Chris had improved so much from week one to week two, and I think there was so much more to come.”

Amy then offered Chris a personal message of encouragement, telling him that she hoped the experience would help him have greater faith in himself.

“But I just hope you believe in yourself more as I will always believe in you.”

Chris and Amy’s departure came after their appearance in the dance-off on Sunday evening. Following the judges’ decision, their Strictly Come Dancing journey officially came to an end after just two weeks of competition.

For Chris, however, his brief time on the programme appeared to have left a lasting impression. Despite admitting to feeling nervous and uncertain before performances, he managed to continue stepping onto the dance floor, with Amy’s encouragement helping him through the most difficult moments.

Monday’s emotional appearance on It Takes Two gave Chris the opportunity to reflect on that experience, while Amy made clear how much she believed he had developed in such a short period.

Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two continues on weekdays on BBC Two from 6:30pm.