Will Mellor has shared the way he keeps his late dad close to him every time he steps out into the ballroom on Strictly Come Dancing. The actor got off to an incredible start in the BBC One dance competition, winning over the judges and viewers with his snake hips and intense acting skills.
But Will, who has more recently starred as out-and-out baddie Harvey Gaskell in Coronation Street, hit a stumbling block during week three of the contest when he was struck down with a bug. The 46-year-old had very little time to rehearse his rumba, a notoriously difficult dance for the show's celebs and still performed in the live show with the flu.
Will, who was asleep in his dressing room before he went on stage for that performance, scored just 23 points, his lowest score of the series, for his rumba to The Joker And The Queen by Ed Sheeran featuring Taylor Swift.
However, he returned with a bang on Saturday night (October 22) when the former Two Pints of Lager star and dance partner Nancy Xu channeled the drama of Line Of Duty in their Viennese waltz as they performed to the show’s end credit theme to secure their 32 points.
Craig Revel Horwood said Will was "back with vengeance" and carried the passion all the way through the routine. However, head judge Shirley Ballas did share some constructive criticism as she added: "I loved the performance. I loved the fact that you give it your all, but remember, if you push too hard and you go off balance, you’re going to struggle.”
And as well as receiving great support from the public, Will’s wife of 15 years, dancer and actress Michelle McSween, has been by his side throughout the competition. "She gives me notes and she looks at me like a dancer rather than her partner," Will told the Mirror.
"She’ll go, ‘You were great but you need to put your shoulders back or you need to lift your chin up,’ and I’m like, ‘Can you not just enjoy it? I haven’t done this before!’ She’s very proud of me and she knows I’m outside my comfort zone. She gets me and I get her and that’s why it works."
Will has previously shared how he partly signed up to the show for his mum Shirley. Will’s family tragically lost his dad Bill in 2020, two weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer. Will then lost his uncle Barry before Christmas the same year, followed by his uncle George and aunt Pat - who died within days of each other.
But every time he appears on screen in the Stricltly ballroom, Will is holding his dad close. "I wear his ring every day for every performance," he told the Mirror. "I always have a little moment with it before I go on and dance. It means he’s with me. He gave me the confidence to go and do this.
"When I was a kid he was always saying, ‘You can go and do it,’ and I came from somewhere where no one did what I wanted to do. I was from a working class family and I grew up on a council estate, but he and my mum made me believe in my dreams."
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