BBC Strictly Come Dancing favourite 'pulls out of show at last minute'

BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Paul Merson couldn't join his professional partner Karen Hauer on It Takes Two as he was on "dad duties"

Paul Merson, one of the stars on BBC's Strictly Come Dancing, had to miss his scheduled appearance on It Takes Two because of "dad duties". Instead, the father of three joined via video, sharing some light-hearted banter about his latest dancing effort.

Janette Manrara noted his paternal commitments, saying: "Paul, you're on dad duties this evening. So you can't be in the studio this evening, that comes first."

Paul jestingly replied, "Amazing. Just to get a nice dance."

He discussed the unexpected elements of the show and how they matched up with what he had envisioned, mentioning: "Obviously, a BBQ, a vindaloo, and footballs are coming in, and he looks like someone who works on a ship. Yeah, it was nice to dance. I thought Karen deserved that as well, to be fair."

Paul further reflected on his experience on Strictly, revealing: "It felt nice when I first took up the chance to come on to the show. This is what I thought it would be roughly, you know what I mean? So it was nice to get one of those dances in."

Reaffirming his thoughts on a previous performance, he added: "When I first took up the chance to come on the show, this is what I thought it would be, roughly," and then mentioned his delight in achieving a certain level of dancing: "It was nice to get one of those dances in."

Janette responded, affirming that he'd now captured the full Strictly experience, to which Paul contemplated the competition ahead: "Yeah, but now it's back to reality again this week."

A Twitter user expressed their dissatisfaction about a certain aspect of the show, commenting: "He's quite right....They need to stop all these stupid dances they give to ex sports people. It's embarrassing and never works properly. Paul's dance was far better with the correct music and outfit."

In support of this sentiment, another viewer added their voice on social media, stating: "Stop with the joke dances. #ittakestwo #strictly."

As for the competition, Paul, the former Arsenal footballer, is still tipped as one of the likely candidates to leave the contest this weekend. He has been candid about his decision not to take the fee for his participation in the show but to give it to his wife, Kate, following a personal history of gambling and alcohol issues that had once left him severely challenged.

Nowadays, Paul, who serves as a football pundit for Sky Sports, doesn't hold back in discussing his previous struggles with addiction, including gambling, alcohol, and drug abuse. His hope is that his presence on Strictly can shine a light on such issues, reports the Mirror.

Emphasising the significance of this, he shared: "Being an addict and a recovering alcoholic myself... to show people watching this show who have got addictions, that you can go out and do something like this... is so important."