AJ Pritchard was seen in tears as he competed for a spot on Dancing With The Stars, admitting the pressure and sacrifices he has made, including postponing his wedding, to achieve his dream.
Emotional breakdown on The Next Pro
The 31-year-old former Strictly dancer, currently in the United States, was filmed crying on The Next Pro as fellow competitor Nina Mayster comforted him. He cited "stress and exhaustion" and said: "Especially when you do a routine and just want it to be perfect. For years and years I’ve wanted this and I don’t want to go home."
He added: "I put myself under maybe too much pressure. Because I want to show how much this means to me."
Wedding postponed
Opening up about the sacrifices, he said: "I’ve sacrificed so much to be here and do this. I’ve had to move my wedding. It’s overwhelming when I actually think about the lengths I’ve gone to. To not achieve what I’ve given up everything for would just be so disappointing."
Oti Mabuse's criticism
His comments last year, suggesting Strictly needed more British dancers, were criticised by former dancer Oti Mabuse. Responding on TikTok, she said: "AJ is so controversial, it's so funny. I think AJ has said a lot of things about Strictly as a brand, and, I don't know how to word this. He might've rubbed people up the wrong way with his personality as well. I think we can admit that. Like him coming out in public and saying he wants British dancers on a British show, because Strictly is British..."
She pointed out that the most popular pros, including Aljaz, Giovanni, Janette, Vito, Nikita, Alexis, Katya, and past stars like Vincent Simone, Ola Jordan, Kristina Rihanoff, and Natalie Lowe, were not British. She concluded: "Those are the legends and they're not British. So you can imagine that for a lot of people it would have rubbed them up the wrong way."
