Laura Whitmore 'didn't stop crying' after being forced to pull out of Strictly

Laura Whitmore has confessed to never having cried so much as she did when she was forced to pull out of last weekend's Strictly Come Dancing due to an ankle injury.

The TV presenter, 31, also revealed her upset over letting people down for missing the show and that she felt like a "failure".

She said that she "didn't stop crying" and that she has "never cried so much in my life" after being struck down with a repetitive strain injury on the joint.

Instead, Whitmore - who was given a bye through to the following week's show - stayed away from the studio to watch the episode on TV.

She said: "Watching it at home with my mates eating a Chinese curry, it did seem like - knowing I should be there - it was really hard to watch it.

"I wanted to watch it and support the other contestants and make sure Giovanni (Pernice) wasn't having too much fun without me."

Whitmore admitted that she felt she had let people close to her down, including her professional dance partner Pernice.

She said: "My best friend had flown over from Dublin to watch the show. Giovanni had spent a long time choreographing a beautiful dance, and taught it to me, and then I wasn't able to do it.

"There are people who give up so much to be on that show. I'm lucky to be able to be on it and then to not dance felt like a little bit of a failure."

She explained how she was told by doctors - of which she has seen three in recent days, including a physiotherapist - not to dance for five days.

This meant she started learning her tango routine for this weekend just four days before the live show on Saturday.

But instead of having fears over being behind the other contestants, who Whitmore said can train up to "triple the minimum 12-hour amount" per week, she was confident that she had rehearsed to her best ability.

She and Pernice put in around 12 hours of training on their dance to Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones for the Halloween special episode, despite still being in pain.

Whitmore said: "We worked really hard within that time.

"Sometimes Giovanni jokes with me that you can be in the studio 40 hours but not really be there in your head, so if you're there for 12 hours and fully committed, that can be just as good.

"I tried to concentrate a little bit more. Because of last week and how upset I was, it kind of makes you or breaks you. It gave me a little bit of determination.

"And I didn't want to let anyone else down because I felt like I did last week."