Balvinder Sopal of BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing has confronted her anxieties after two weeks in the bottom two.
After surviving her first dance-off on Strictly Come Dancing, Balvinder Sopal wowed the judges with a fiery Paso Doble, earning an impressive 28 points.
Despite this success, the EastEnders actress admitted she felt “crushed” after landing in the bottom two for a second week in a row, coinciding with the announcement that Claudia Winkleman and Tess Daly will be leaving the BBC show.
“I’ve had meltdowns and everything,” she confessed, acknowledging how hard it has been to stay positive. “And I’m like, ‘holy hell, I’ve been pretending to be optimistic.’
“I can be harsh on myself and sometimes speak negatively, but it’s unnecessary. When you step onto that dance floor, there’s a real fear of judgment and rejection. I just have to remind myself that I chose to put myself in that position.”
Although Balvinder Sopal earned respectable scores for her last two performances, she didn’t receive enough votes from the public to avoid the dreaded dance-off.
On both occasions, she was saved by the judges, while Ross King and later Chris Robshaw were sent home, according to the Mirror.
Reflecting on the moment she faced the news for the second time, Balvinder told the Mirror: “My heart just sank. I thought we’d done enough to recover from being in the bottom two the previous week. I was crushed.”
Last Saturday’s results were extremely close, and fans noted that had head judge Shirley Ballas still held the deciding vote, Balvinder would have been eliminated. Fortunately, that responsibility fell to Craig Revel Horwood, giving her another chance to continue in the competition.
“I’m so thankful to Craig he’s one of the toughest judges, in my opinion,” says Balvinder Sopal. “He saved us, and I honestly can’t thank him enough.”
Despite this reprieve, the 46-year-old soap star admits the experience has left her questioning her popularity outside of her Albert Square persona, Suki Panesar.
“Maybe viewers assumed we were safe and didn’t bother voting,” she speculates. “But whenever Suki and her Walford wife, Eve, appear on screen, my social media blows up message after message after message.
So I’m like, ‘OK, what’s happening here? Surely you’d want to be backing Suki?’ Maybe not everyone likes me, Bal? Who knows. But one thing is certain: I never want to face the dance-off again.”
Acknowledging that the “feeling of insecurity” is hard to shake, Balvinder Sopal and her Australian professional partner, Julian Caillon, who is new to the series this year, are focused on giving their all for this week’s performance.
“We just have to perfect our dance and make sure we leave a strong impression,” she says. “I’m trying not to let Saturday’s stress carry over into this weekend.”