Strictly star Will Mellor has admitted that he couldn't get through Monday's rehearsals without crying due to the song choice for Saturday's upcoming show.
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During an appearance on Loose Women on Thursday, the actor revealed that he and his partner Nancy Xu will be dancing to Three Times a Lady by the Commodores on the weekend, a song that his late dad used to sing to his mum.
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"It's been a tough week," Will admitted. "It's one of my dad's favourite songs. He used to sing it to my mum.
"I spoke to my mum the other day and I just couldn't get through Monday without crying. It was just so hard. It's weird because when you lose somebody, you think grief is gone and then something happens and it grabs you. I couldn't even talk. So we lost a lot on Monday because I couldn't concentrate."
Will's father, Bill Mellor, died within two weeks of being diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Chatting to HELLO! and other journalists earlier this year about his reasons for joining Strictly, the Two Pints of Lager actor revealed that losing his dad changed his mindset and encouraged him to "grab life".
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"I have been asked [to do the show] before and it scared me," he explained. "Doing anything like this scared me. I was worried it would have a negative impact on my acting career and then I lost my dad in 2020 and my mindset completely changed.
© Photo: RexWill with his father, Bill, in 2010
"I just thought you've got to grab life. You've got to do things and I'm going to say yes to more stuff and create memories and that really is what life's about. And you realise that when you start losing people and that this is what life's about."
He added: "I'd rather look back and think I'm glad I did that rather than I should have done that."
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