Will Young on having to pull out of Strictly Come Dancing due to his agoraphobia

Singer Will Young has said he tried to pull out of doing Strictly Come Dancing due to the severity of agoraphobia but felt “pressured” to continue by his team.

During his spell on the BBC show in 2016, the Pop Idol winner dropped out after three weeks, citing personal reasons.

The singer, 45, said at the time that he left the competition with “joy in my heart that I have been able to take part in one of the most loved shows on British television”.

Speaking to Rylan Clark on his BBC podcast How To Be In The Spotlight about his time on Strictly, Young said: “I tried to pull out of it, but I was sort of pressured to do it.

“It was sort of like ‘Well, if you pull out, the BBC will never work with you again’.

“That was one of the things that was said to me, so I did it, but I knew I wasn’t well enough.”

He continued: “You know, when you’re getting flashbacks and all those kind of things, for me, it was agoraphobia.

“So agoraphobia was really bad for me. So literally throughout that stage, I didn’t even know where I was.

“I’m on that show. If you ever watch it back, I was not even in the room.

“I had people messaging me going, this isn’t good, you’re not well. But I tried to get out. I was just so agoraphobic. I could barely get to the studio to rehearse.”

Young, who was paired with professional dancer Karen Clifton on the show, revealed that after his Bollywood performance, he knew he had to leave the show.

The singer added: “Even though the Bollywood dance was good. Sometimes I still watch that back. because I’m really proud of it.

“I thought ‘No, no, this isn’t going to work, I’m not doing this anymore’. Literally after that night.

“Also, people put pressure on for money… I didn’t necessarily have the most supportive people behind me at that stage.”

Young has scored four UK number one singles and four UK number one albums since winning Pop Idol during its inaugural series in 2002.

Reflecting on his time on the show, he recalled refusing to not say he was gay while on the ITV talent show.

He said: “I was told not to say anything… I just told them I wasn’t going to do that. I didn’t go through that process to sit and then lie, and no one ever asked me.”

The singer added: “This is really funny and I’d forgotten about this. So they said don’t (be gay).

“So I got quivery lip and said I didn’t come out and go through all those years being terrified of it, to be kicked back in the f****** closet. So basically told them to f*** off.”

He recalled that during a press conference for the show he was asked who he would like to go on a date with, to which he said he would like to have “tea with the Queen”.

“Which was kind of genius. Everyone in the room knew I was gay, and I thought, oh, f*** them, so I’ll just say this,” he said.

Discussing how he got on Pop Idol, Young said he applied to go on the show after seeing an advert which asked: “Do you want to be a star?”

He added: “I said to my friend who is now quite a well-known actor ‘I’m going to win it’ because I just knew I had to get to TV because I was like ‘Who would sign an openly gay, posh, politics student? No one’. He didn’t even write his own songs.

“So I thought ‘I just need to get in front of an audience. I just needed to get away from the key holders to the public, and then I thought, and they’ll see it.”