Strictly star in tears weeks after replacing contestant forced to pull out of BBC show

Amber Davies has opened up about the backlash she has received after signing up for Strictly Come Dancing. The former Love Island star, 28, recently replaced Dani Dyer, on the BBC series who was forced to quit after the first episode of the series due to an injury. The West End performer has now opened up about the backlash she has faced over claims about her dance experience. Amber has starred in the West End and various musicals including 9 to 5, Back To The Future, The Great Gatsby and Pretty Woman.

Her signing sparked backlash from disgruntled fans with some claiming she was too experienced for the Strictly ballroom. Amber has since set the record straight about her dance background during an appearance on Wednesday's edition of This Morning alongside her professional dance partner Nikita Kuzmin. The actress also admitted backstage tears in a candid admission.

Amber shut down claims she is a professional dancer as ITV host Ben Shephard mused: "You're a professional performer."

His co-host Cat Deeley later added: "You have experience of dancing," to which Amber replied, "Yes."

"But you're not a ballroom dancer, you've never done the samba before," Cat quizzed further.

Amber quickly affirmed: "No, no, no."

She added: "Also, I wanna say, I think the ballroom and Latin community know that musical theatre is world's apart [from ballroom dancing]."

Amber went on to share she shed tears behind the scenes as she admitted to struggling with the American Smooth during rehearsals.

"I do understand where they come from, because I can perform," she explained. "But, there's a great example. Yesterday we were doing our American Smooth, and even just walking left right, left right, brought me to tears.

"It's so much more complicated than you can imagine."

Dani, 29, had to drop out of Strictly after revealing she had fractured her foot in rehearsals with pro partner Nikita and would not be able to perform in the first live show of the 2025 series. Amber replaced the Love Island winner on the BBC show.

Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One and iPlayer on Saturday, October 11