BEST MOMENT

THIS year’s series hasn’t been without its emotional moments. Ryan has admitted that he “is worried about being teary nearly every Sunday” on the show. He admitted that dancing the rumba to Coldplay’s Fix You for Memory Lane week was a particularly moving routine. That week, Ryan also reflected on the time he was told that he would never dance due to his scoliosis diagnosis.

‘It was a song that came in at a certain time of my life, and it always reminds me of that time,’ Ryan has said. ‘Everyone knows the song and it’s one of those songs that every time you listen to it is like listening to it for the first time.’

Lottie Ryan’s mum Morah was also in tears when the broadcaster did her second dance-off on last

Sunday’s show. Speaking after the tense quarter-final which saw her go head-to-head with Fr Ray Kelly for a place in the semis, Lottie said afterwards: ‘My mum was in tonight.

‘What didn’t help was when I was in the dance-off and I looked over and my mum was crying. It’s not in a negative way, it’s in a mother way — she doesn’t want me in that position obviously. ‘But for me, mentally, it’s very difficult for me to see my mum crying and she was right in my eye line. ‘I couldn’t go to comfort her, I had to get into a headspace. ‘The one thing I say is don’t get emotionally involved while on stage. I had to get into my zone. I was like, “I’ll deal with my mother later”.’ Fortunately, Lottie kept her eye on the prize, and managed to fight her way into this weekend’s semi-final. But with her exceptional talent, we’re not sure her competition is all that glad she made it through…