Strictly The Real Full Monty: Duncan James moves viewers as he pays tribute to ‘friend’ Sarah Harding: ‘Just heartbreaking’

Duncan spoke of his heartbreak over Sarah’s death (Pictures: Rex/Getty/ITV)

As expected, tonight’s episode of Strictly The Real Full Monty was an emotional rollercoaster as the celebrities taking part opened up about their emotional reasons for doing so.

That included former boyband Blue member Duncan James, who is taking part in the two-part ITV show in memory of his close friend and Girls Aloud star, Sarah Harding.

Harding died of breast cancer at the age of 39 in September.

Speaking to The Mirror about participating in the programme, the 43-year-old explained: ‘This was way scarier than performing with Blue, but I hope it encourages people to check themselves.

‘We did gigs with Girls Aloud… I was closest to Sarah. I felt very sad when I found out she had cancer. With the whole Covid thing, she didn’t want people to go and see her.’

As Duncan mentioned Sarah as his motivation for getting his kit off for such an important cause, viewers were touched by his tribute.

Duncan is baring his all (Picture: Nicky Johnston/ Spungold Productions/ITV)

‘RIP Sarah Harding, absolute legend. Great to see Duncan doing this for his friend,’ one tweeted.

‘I agree with Duncan, losing Sarah this year was just heartbreaking,’ wrote another.

Some were moved to tears as they reflected on Duncan’s bond with Sarah and her untimely death.

Duncan was closest to Sarah from Girls Aloud (Picture: Piers Allardyce/Rex/Shutterstock)

‘Duncan paying tribute to Sarah Harding’, penned one fan with a row of crying emojis, while one viewer commented: ‘I’m gone.’

Other stars baring their all to raise awareness include Love Island’s Teddy Soares, Martin Roberts, Colin Jackson, James Jordan and Laila Morse.

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Elsewhere, Christine McGuinness overcame a huge fear on the show as she danced infront of others, as well as discussing her autism diagnosis publicly for the first time with James.

Strictly The Real Full Monty returns at 9pm on Tuesday and will be available on ITV Hub.

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