Carlos Gu had viewers in tears with a heart-wrenching confession about his Strictly Come Dancing journey earlier than occurring to bag the 2025 glitterball trophy. The skilled dancer, 32, bought emotional after his last dance with associate Karen Carney, 38, admitting that earlier than this season, he had been “self-centred” and wasn’t partnered with anybody the yr earlier than.
Breaking down in tears, Carlos mentioned of Karen: “She’s modified my life. I believe she’s the most effective factor that I’ve ever had in 2025.”
“I got here to Strictly after aggressive life, I used to be self-centred, I used to be ‘me, me, me’,” he informed co-host Claudia Winkleman. Carlos mentioned it was “no surprise I did not get associate final yr, as a result of I am not grateful”.
Carlos, who joined the fact present as an expert dancer in 2022, shortly tried to compose himself as he went on to gush about his dance associate. “She taught me the right way to be a sort, humble individual, and for the primary time, I discovered to be a workforce participant. I’m by no means a workforce participant, which I’m so unhappy about it.” Claudia then swooped in to consolation the dancer, assuring that he had “all the time been a workforce participant” and was “superb”.
Viewers took to social media to react to Carlos’ emotional second on the present, with one individual writing on X: “Oh Carlos Gu, you deserve the world”. One other mentioned they had been “crying at Carlos saying he did not have a associate final yr as a result of he was ungrateful”. “That was such an trustworthy speech from Carlos that I am truly crying,” another person gushed.
Carlos’ historic win
Carlos and Karen each made historical past as the primary overtly homosexual and Asian man and the primary footballer, respectively, to win the glitterball. Talking to us and different media at a press convention forward of the ultimate, we raised the prospect of Carlos making historical past on the present, prompting the dancer to get emotional.
Talking for Carlos, Karen answered: “He is clearly emotional about that, however Carlos is a tremendous individual, and that is an important factor. As a associate and regardless of the final result is for any of us, at the start, we’re folks, and he is a beautiful individual, he is a improbable dancer.”
Karen’s ‘grateful’ for Carlos
© CREDIT LINE:BBC/Man LevyThe previous Lioness participant opened up about how her Strictly journey helped to revive her confidence. “I believed if I might ever bought the chance to have the privilege to affix it, it might be the secure atmosphere to repair me and assist me once more, and it completely has for me. It is actually constructed my confidence,” she mentioned.
She continued: “It is by far the happiest I’ve ever been, I’ve smiled like I’ve by no means smiled earlier than, and I am eternally grateful to the present and to Carlos for that. After we dance, I really feel like I’ve a duty to offer everybody a smile, as a result of I do know once I was sat on the couch, it is helped me. I consider I’ve that duty to offer that again to everybody at house.”
Talking of his associate, Carlos gushed: “She has a chic degree of braveness in her, she by no means provides up, and he or she by no means not provides 100%.”
