Hamza Yassin battled a severe lack of self-confidence the whole way through his time on Strictly Come Dancing, before winning the show last month.
While his odds of winning Strictly were as high as 25/1 at one point, it took just a few weeks for bookies to earmark CBBC star and wildlife enthusiast Hamza as potential champion. He finished joint top of the leaderboard alongside Will Mellor in week one and from then on was a consistent high scorer, alongside pro partner Jowita Przystal, in her first series with a celebrity.
Hamza and Jowita's partnership earned huge praise from both the Strictly judges and viewers at home and lived up to the odds and experts' expectations by clinching the Glitterball trophy in the 2022 final, despite finishing bottom of the leaderboard on the night.
However, while plenty of people who watched the show and Jowita herself had massive believe in Hamza's abilities and his chances of winning, he was plagued with self doubt behind the scenes.
Opening up on Hamza's lack of confidence, as they appeared on This Morning before the Strictly tour starts, Jowita said: "He is so not confident about himself. He still thinks he can't dance even though he won the show! So to have him in the final with me was like 'maybe now he will believe it' you know?"
Turning to Hamza, she added: "For me, when we lifted the Glitterball it was the best feeling ever, because if I can give you that little boost of confidence."
Referring to some of the things he'd read about Hamza, Phillip Schofield remarked: "At no point did you think 'I've got this,' at no point did you think you'd win. Every single week you thought you'd be voted off. When you get into the semi final 'well, that's the end of that.'
"Does that mean that because of that self doubt, you'll be able to enjoy the tour more than you perhaps enjoyed the studio?"
Hamza replied: "I absolutely enjoyed the studio 100% but the thing for me, because every week I thought we were going out, I'd hold her thumb, we'd have this thing and I'd lean in and go 'thanks for the journey' I'll make sure I'll point my toe in the dance off' and she'd go 'have faith, you'll be OK."
Jowita admitted she was much more confident about Hamza's abilities, telling Phillip and Holly: "I believed in him from day one and still believe," as Hamza conceded: "I didn't have that belief. Every week I'd go in and give it my all, so I could then say 'I'm done.'
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