Kaye Adams said her Strictly run was physically and emotionally draining yet still delivered an incredible showing.
Stepping out from behind the Loose Women panel in favour of the glitz and glam of the ballroom, Kaye Adams was one of the celebrities announced for this year's Strictly Come Dancing. Partnered with seasoned professional Kai Widdrington, the pair were ones to watch as social media was alight with support and anticipation from the jump.
During their first week together they delivered a tango followed by a high-energy charleston that saw Kaye spin, dip and flipped into the air, nailing the series' first high-risk stunts. After the judges' fairly harsh comments, she was sadly eliminated following a dance-off.
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Shortly after her exit, Strictly fans slammed the decision, claiming her performances were more than deserving of keeping her spot in the competition. Despite the upsetting early farewell, Kaye admitted the support from fans has softened the blow.
She told the Liverpool Echo: "The fact that people seem to appreciate that, you know, I genuinely did give it a good go and I really did try my best. People have been so generous about it and it has been such a lovely, pleasant surprise, to be honest. I'm so grateful. It's made going out so much more bearable than it might otherwise have been."
Kaye said her age and reputation were taken into consideration before joining the show but was ultimately swayed by not wanting to regret refusing it down the line. She added: "I never ever envisioned myself on Strictly because I've never been known as a dancer.
"I've always been the person at parties known as 'Oh, Kaye's not going to dance, she'll be the one getting the drinks.' You kind of convince yourself that's just the way it is. And so, I did really think long and hard because you don't want to make a terrible fool of yourself.
"So yeah, it took a lot of thinking. I started a podcast this year called, How to be 60, because I'm 59. It's about how you go forward. How do you tackle the next stage of life and how do you expand it and do different things. So I thought I'm going to have to put my money where my mouth is here and step out of my comfort zone."
Kaye threw herself right in at the deep end, relying on her partner and taking on all of the hurdles thrown at her. In her short time there she was thrown head and shoulders above Kai, flipped into a cartwheel nailed and blink-and-you'll-miss-it footwork.
Humble with her capabilities and execution, she admitted it was disappointing not to be given the credit she deserved. She added: "I never expected to be vertical in the air with my feet up there.
"I was maybe a tiny bit depleted that the judges didn't even mention that because it was a big deal for me, but obviously they look at the technical side of things. Obviously, they saw things that weren't right. I did feel like Superwoman. I was quite pleased that physically I managed everything.
"In my short time on Strictly, I found it more of a mental, psychological battle than a physical one, to be honest. You know, just to do something that is so different from your normal day-to-day that you've been there before and I mean, people talk about muscle memory, and I never really knew what they were talking about. But I do now."
Kaye found herself in a dance-off against Bros frontman Matt Goss as one last-ditch attempt to stay in the competition. Following their performances, the judges voted in favour of keeping Matt but Kaye acknowledged that her fumble is what cost her her place in the show.
She said: "When you've done absolutely no dance you've got no foundation whatsoever. You've got nothing to sort of rely on and to go back to. In the dance-off, because when I did freeze, I didn't have anything. I didn't have a plan B or Plan C because I'd learned the routine and I knew I had gone wrong.
"As I say, I was just kind of exhausted and nervous. I just kind of let it go. Whereas I guess if I had had some kind of dance training in the past, I might have been able to cover the mistake up but I wasn't able to cover up."
Despite being this year's first casualty, Kaye thanked the judges, Kai, her Loose Women co-stars and the public for all of the love and support she's received for her work. She said: "It's been so lovely. It's almost overwhelming to hear everyone's kind words, I really didn't expect it going into it."
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