Cameraman Hamza Yassin won the hearts of the nation during his time on Strictly Come Dancing last year. However the Strictly champion fought a "hidden" battle of self confidence throughout the series.
Hamza quickly became one of the celebrities touted as a potential finalist as he improved week on week. It was in the first week that Hamza and Jowita topped the leaderboard alongside Will Mellor.
After that Hamza and Jowita continued to score highly and performed some of the most memorable routines from the series. When it came to the final, Hamza finished bottom of the leaderboard but that did not matter as the public chose him as the 2022 champion of Strictly Come Dancing.
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Whilst the British public had huge faith in the Bangor University graduate Hamza himself was full of self doubt. Hamza and his partner Jowita appeared on This Morning to talk all things Strictly ahead of the new Strictly Come Dancing live tour but Hamza opened up about his battle.
Speaking first to hosts Phillip Schofield and Holly Willoughby, Jowita said: "He is so not confident about himself. He still thinks he can't dance even though he won the show.
"So to have him in the final with me was like 'maybe now he will believe it' you know?" She then looked towards her dance partner Hamza and said: "For me, when we lifted the Glitterball it was the best feeling ever, because if I can give you that little boost of confidence."
Philip then spoke about things that he had read about Hamza saying: "At no point did you think 'I've got this,' at no point did you think you'd win. Every single week you thought you'd be voted off.
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"When you get into the semi final 'well, that's the end of that.' Does that mean that because of that self doubt, you'll be able to enjoy the tour more than you perhaps enjoyed the studio?"
Hamza said: "I absolutely enjoyed the studio 100% but the thing for me, because every week I thought we were going out, I'd hold her thumb, we'd have this thing and I'd lean in and go 'thanks for the journey' I'll make sure I'll point my toe in the dance off' and she'd go 'have faith, you'll be OK."
Jowita told the hosts that she was also more confident about Hamza's abilities, and said: "I believed in him from day one and still believe." Hamza replied and said: "I didn't have that belief. Every week I'd go in and give it my all, so I could then say 'I'm done.'"
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