STRICTLY star Amber Davies tells how she’s avoiding the backlash from critics over her dancing West End experience – saying it will only “make me feel crap”.
The actress, 29, who was drafted in as a last-minute replacement for injured Dani Dyer, 29, just days before the first live show, is determined not to let internet trolls ruin her experience.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s Argentine Tango she said: “I am doing everything I possibly can to avoid reading anything negative on social media.
“A lot of people have asked me how I am dealing with the backlash, but, honestly, I refuse to read any comments online. I am not going there.
“In the past I have gone looking for it and it just makes me feel like crap, so this time around I have to be really mentally strong, but I am putting myself in the Strictly bubble.
“I do my rehearsals and go home, I don’t read or check anything. Because the only thing it’s going to do is knock my confidence. I didn’t want this to be a negative experience, so I told myself, ‘I have to block it out, I really do’.”
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She added: “If I worry about the backlash, there would be too much going on in my mind.”
Despite studying at musical theatre as a teen Amber explains that learning ballroom is still a challenge.
She said: “It’s worlds apart. I studied singing and acting. It’s like being a pop singer and being made to sing opera.”
Amber has reassured fans that her boyfriend theatre actor Ben Joyce was supportive about her passionate dance floor display with pro dance partner Nikita Kuzmin, 27.
She said: “It’s normal in our industry, I’ve watched him kiss someone else on stage, he has watched me fall in love with somebody on stage. My boyfriend is obsessed with this dance, he thinks it’s the best routine I have done.”
After finding fame when she won Love Island in 2017 Amber has carved out an impressive career performing in musicals, but reveals she struggled to shake her reality TV past.
She said: “I feel like I’ve had to win over people in order to be taken seriously in the West End.
“I had to work harder in the sense of gaining people’s trust and seriousness.
“Musical theatre is a small, tight-knit industry so as long as you are consistent people will want to work with you, it’s about being a good person and a good team player.”
Amber has been in regular contact with Dani, who is recovering from a fractured ankle.
She said: “I’ve shared messages with Dani and I have checked in on her a couple of times, just to make sure that her ankle is healing. I just reminded her that she is so missed within the building. If the shoe was on the other foot and I was so excited about doing Strictly and then I injured myself I can only imagine how devastated I would feel.
“It’s been bittersweet for me. I want her to know that she is so missed on this show and I could never replace her in a million years and when she comes back next year stronger I will 100 per cent be voting for her to win.
“I’ve known Dani for years now and I think if anyone was going to come in last minute she would have appreciated that it was me, because we have that relationship.”
