Will Mellor fights back tears as he reveals heartbreaking reason he quit Strictly rehearsals on Monday

WILL Mellor has opened up about the heartbreaking reason he was forced to finish Strictly rehearsals early on Monday.

The actor was appearing on Loose Women with his Strictly dance partner Nancy Xu where he made the heart-wrenching confession.

Will revealed that the choice of music he associated with his late father who he was hoping to pay tribute to in his routine on Saturday night.

The actor confirmed he and Nancy would be dancing to The Commodores hit Three Times a Lady.

Speaking to the panel, Will said: "It is one of my dad's favourite songs, he used to sing it to my mum - and I spoke to my mum the other day and I just couldn't get through Monday without crying.

"It was just so hard because - it's weird, you know when you lose somebody, you think grief, it's gone and I can talk about it now and then something happens and it grabs you and I couldn't even talk," he admitted as he gestured at his throat.

He added: "So we lost a lot of Monday because I couldn't concentrate."

Will spoke of his hope to put in an excellent performance in order to continue his father's memory.

He told the panel: "I want to do it right because I'd like to celebrate him.

"That's one of the reasons why I'm doing Strictly, because - to grab life and, you know, live the best life I can because he lives in me now and he gave me the confidence to do things with my life."

Will's dad Bill tragically died just weeks after being diagnosed with cancer in 2020.

He previously opened up about his father's passing during an appearance on BBC's The One Show.