Zara McDermott reflects on ‘how far she’s come’ as she posts emotional video of her

Zara McDermott reflects on ‘how far she’s come’ as she posts emotional video of her Strictly Come Dancing journey with Graziano Di Prima

Published: 15:09 EDT, 24 September 2023 | Updated: 15:16 EDT, 24 September 2023

Zara McDermott proudly shared a video of her Strictly Come Dancing journey so far following her first live performance to the Cha Cha Cha on Saturday.

The former Love Islander, 26, has been busy rehearsing in the last few months preparing for the live shows with her partner Graziano Di Prima, 29.

And after scoring 19 points, Zara took to Instagram to document her Strictly process so far with clips and pictures of her and Graziano dancing.

She wrote: ‘How it started… vs how it went. I look at this video and realise how far I came from day 1.

‘Having never danced in front of anyone before in my entire life (no exaggeration!), walking into that studio a few weeks ago with less than zero dance experience and no confidence whatsoever, using a broomstick as a prop to help me… to doing what I did last night.

How it started: Zara McDermott proudly shared a video of her Strictly Come Dancing journey so far following her first live performance to the Cha Cha Cha on Saturday

How it went: The former Love Islander, 26, has been busy rehearsing in the last few months preparing for the live shows with her partner Graziano Di Prima, 29

‘I am so proud of myself. I am proud of myself for doing my absolute best, for going out there even though I know I have so much work to do, and being the most nervous I’ve ever been in my life.

‘My mouth was so dry I could barely talk after, thank you all so much again for all your kind messages.

‘I appreciate every single one of you and I am going to keep pushing myself week on week to get better and better.’

Former Islanders and Strictly stars congratulated Zara in the comments and praised her performance.

Love Island’s Chloe Burrows wrote: ‘SMASHED IT GIRL!!!!!!!!!’.

Former Strictly star and YouTuber Saffron Barker wrote: ‘Yesssss’.

Made In Chelsea‘s Tiffany Watson commented: ‘So amazing!!’, while fitness fanatic Courtney Black wrote: ‘Smashed it’.

Zara was supported from the sidelines by boyfriend Sam Thompson, 31, and his pal and former TOWIE star Pete Wicks, 35, who both donned quirky shirts with her face.

Reflecting: And after scoring 19 points, Zara took to Instagram to document her Strictly process so far with clips and pictures of her and Graziano dancing

Supportive: Former Islanders and Strictly stars congratulated Zara in the comments and praised her performance

Strictly: Week One Leaderboard

Nigel Harman and Katya Jones – Paso Doble to Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana – 32 points out of 40

Layton Williams and Nikita Kuzmin – Samba to Touch by Little Mix – 29 points out of 40

Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola – Jive to Can’t Tame Her by Zara Larsson – 29 points out of 40

Bobby Brazier and Diane Buswell – Foxtrot to All About You by McFly – 29 points out of 40

Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice – Viennese Waltz to Pointless by Lewis Capaldi – 29 points out of 40

Angela Rippon Kai Wrrington – Cha Cha to Get The Party Started by Shirley Bassey – 28 points out of 40

Annabel Croft and Johannes Radebe – Cha Cha to Uptown Girl by Billy Joel – 28 points out of 40

Angela Scanlan and Carlos Gu – Tango to Prisoner by Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa – 23 points out of 40

Eddie Kadi and Karen – Quickstep to Two Hearts by Phil Collins – 22 points out of 40

Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Lauren Oakley – Cha Cha to Boom Shack A Lack by Apache Indian – 22 points out of 40

Jody Cundy and Jowita Przystał – Quickstep to I’m On Top Of The World by Bobby Darin – 21 points out of 40

Adam Thomas and Luba Mushtuk – Cha Cha to Waffle House by Jonas Brothers – 19 points out of 40

Zara McDermott and Graziano Dr Prima – Cha Cha to Crush by Jennifer Page – 19 points out of 40

Nikita Kanda and Gorka Marquez – Waltz to Run To You by Whitney Houston – 18 points out of 40

Les Dennis and Nancy Xu – Tango to Don’t You Want Me by Human League – 16 points out of 40

It comes after Zara McDermott admitted years of trolling have left her feeling insecure.

The influencer found fame aged 21, on the 2018 series of the reality show Love Island, spending days being filmed wearing skimpy swimwear, while flirting with other singletons.

In a new interview, Zara has explained how she plans to ‘channel the confident bikini babe from Love Island’ when she’s on Strictly.

She confessed she ‘never had those feelings of lack of confidence’ when she was in the Love Island villa, but struggled in the aftermath with people commenting on how she looks.

Zara also admitted she’s trying to change little the voice inside her head from a worrying one to a confident, reassuring one.

Zara told The Sun: ‘I’m fighting for this — so I’ll channel the confident bikini babe from Love Island when I’m on the Strictly dancefloor.

‘I’m trying to live my 21-year-old, no-care attitude and channel the inner confidence I think is key for this show.

‘From being in this industry 100 per cent, all of a sudden lots of people are commenting on how you look and stuff like that.’

‘I didn’t give any thought to wearing a bikini in front of the nation when I was on Love Island, I was 21 and at that age you just do it. I never had those feelings of lack of confidence back then.’

She also added that her boyfriend, Made In Chelsea star Sam, has been ‘amazing’ throughout her Strictly training.