Annabel Croft returns to the Strictly dancefloor after admitting she ‘cries every day’ over death of beloved husband Mel Coleman as she scores 30 points for emotional Waltz

Annabel Croft returned to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor on Saturday night after admitting she ‘cries every day’ over the death of her husband Mel Coleman. 

The former tennis player, 57, and her professional partner Johannes Radebe scored 30 points for their emotional Waltz to Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 

Annabel’s late husband and father to their three children Charlie, Amber and Lilly, died earlier this year, aged 60, a few weeks after he was diagnosed with stage three cancer.

His death came just two months after he started complaining of stomach pain.

The radio presenter recently revealed she ‘sobbed’ over her loss the night before her debut on the BBC show in an interview with The Daily Mail. 

Emotional: Annabel Croft, 57, returned to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor on Saturday night after admitting she ‘cries every day’ over the death of her husband Mel Coleman

Upset: Her late husband died earlier this year, aged 60, a few weeks after he was diagnosed with stage three cancer (pictured in 2021)

Taking to the dancefloor, Annabel channeled her inner Audrey Hepburn in a stunning black gown with a pear neckline. 

Following the heartfelt perfromance she score 8’s from both Craig and Motsi and 7’s from Shirley and Anton, taking her total to 30 points. 

Speaking in her first devastating interview since losing her husband Mel, Annabel told The Daily Mail, how she ‘sobbed’ over her loss the night before her debut on the BBC show. 

The one person who could have given her a pep talk and a you-can-do-it hug, as he had done all her adult life, was not there.

‘So I just sat and cried,’ she recalled. ‘Mel was my biggest supporter, my protector. He gave me confidence. He made things right, always had done. I wanted to talk to him. I wanted to say: ‘I am really nervous for tomorrow, but I don’t have you to make it OK’.

‘It was a weird scenario. I was about to go out in front of millions of people and be jolly and happy but I was sobbing, thinking: ‘I don’t know where you are, Mel. Where have you gone?’.’

Fans of Strictly will know that former tennis ace Annabel came into the competition from a difficult place. 

Routine: The former tennis player and her professional partner Johannes Radebe scored 30 points for their emotional Waltz to Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Stunning: Taking to the dancefloor, Annabel channeled her inner Audrey Hepburn in a stunning black gown with a pear neckline

STRICTLY LEADERBOARD – WEEK 3 

Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu: Charleston to Who’s Got The Pain? From Damn Yankees – FINAL SCORE: 9, 9, 8, 9 = 35

Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer: Couple’s Choice to Men in Black from Men in Black  – FINAL SCORE: 8, 8, 10, 8 = 34

Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola: Viennese Waltz to Waiting On A Miracle from Encanto – FINAL SCORE: 8, 9, 8, 8 = 33

Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell: Samba to Young Hearts Run Free from Romeo and Juliet – FINAL SCORE: 8, 8, 8, 8 = 32

Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice: Rumba to Out of Reach from Bridget Jones – FINAL SCORE: 6, 8, 8, 8 = 30

Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe: Waltz to Moon River from Breakfast at Tiffany’s – FINAL SCORE: 8, 8, 7, 7 = 30

Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin: Viennese Waltz to There Are Worse Things I Could Do from Grease – FINAL SCORE: 7, 7, 7, 7 = 28

Angela Rippon and Kai Widdrington: Quickstep to Do-Re-Mi from The Sound of Music – FINAL SCORE: 6, 7, 6, 7 = 26

Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk: Jive to Take On Me from The Super Mario Bros. Movie   – FINAL SCORE: 5, 7, 7, 7 = 26

Nigel Harman and Katya Jones: Jive to Batman Theme from Batman – FINAL SCORE: 6, 6, 6, 7 = 25

Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima: Paso Doble to The Puss Suite from Puss in Boots – FINAL SCORE: 6, 6, 6, 7 = 25

Nikita Kanda and Gorka Marquez: Jive to Kids in America from Clueless – FINAL SCORE: 4, 6, 5, 6 = 21

Jody Cundy and Jowita Przystał: American Smooth to Married Life from Up – FINAL SCORE: 4, 5, 5, 6 = 20

She was widowed in May after losing her husband to cancer. They had been together for 36 years, and he was her first serious boyfriend. ‘There was never anyone else,’ she said.

What was particularly brutal was the speed of it. Mel, a ruggedly healthy former round-the-world yachtsman, went from diagnosis to death in a matter of 16 weeks. 

‘It’s unthinkable,’ Annabel said. ‘How can someone disappear in three months? We didn’t even know he was ill.

‘On the day they said ‘Cancer, and it is everywhere’, I just went into total freefall. I was one of those wailing women in the hospital car park.

‘Poor Mel was the one who’d been told he was going to die, and he was comforting me. Three months later, I was picking up a death certificate and our three children were having to process the fact their dad’s name was on there.

Sadness: Speaking in her first devastating interview since losing her husband Mel, Annabel told The Daily Mail, how she ‘sobbed’ the night before her debut on the show (pictured on their wedding day)

‘Our son, Charlie, said it was as if a hand had come down from the sky and plucked Mel out, leaving our family with a gaping hole that will never be filled.’

She said that Mel’s suits — ‘his lovely linen suits that he would wear to Wimbledon’ — are still hanging in the wardrobe. She lifted his toothbrush by mistake the other day and stood, stricken. ‘I should throw it away. I can’t.’

Annabel has been unable to collect his ashes from the crematorium. ‘I know I have to,’ she says. ‘People say it’s a comfort to have them, but I just can’t. Ashes? Mel?

‘I didn’t understand what grief was until now. I didn’t even understand death, had never thought about it. Now I think: ‘God, Mel, you’ve done death. How is that even possible?’ How can I be a widow? We were a team.’

Strictly Come Dancing 2023: Who are the couples?

 Nigel Harman and Katya Jones

 Bobby Brazier and Diane Buswell

Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe

 Zara McDermott and Graziano Di Prima

 Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice

 Angela Rippon and Kai Widdrington

 Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Lauren Oakley

 Angela Scanlon and Carlos Gu

 Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola

 Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk

 Jody Cundy and Jowita Przystał

 Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin

Nikita Kanda and Gorka Marquez 

 Les Dennis and Nancy Xu

 Eddie Kadi and Karen Hauer

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