John Whaite has hailed his Strictly Come Dancing partner a 'godsend' after admitting to sobbing in rehearsal.
The chef took time out from his training regime to heap praise on professional dancer Johannes Radebe as the pair work together ahead of the first live show on Saturday night.
John admitted he had been left crying in rehearsals because Johannes was being "too nice", and he has now dubbed the dancer as a "godsend" for helping him through the tough times.
"Happy hump day everyone. Just 3 more sleeps until our first live show @bbcstrictly," he wrote.
" @johannesradebe and I will be dancing our tango, and the other 14 couples will be blowing us away with what they’ve been working on. I’m so excited.
"Working with this chap, let me tell you, is a godsend."
John had explained how he felt Johannes was being "too nice" to him, causing him to burst out in tears.
"He was being too nice. I said ‘Johannes, I’m just not getting it so please can you talk me through the steps, be horrible to me and I’ll get it,'" John began to explain on Steph's Packed Lunch.
"He was like 'No darling, I don’t do that', I started crying."
He explained how gruelling training can be sometimes as he admits he is finding it "stressful".
John added: "Sometimes the days are stressful and we have to take a few more breaks.
"Last week when we were learning the steps, I was getting really stressed... I glaze over.
"I reach mental saturation and he has to either feed me Haribo or send me home and I think it’s easier just to put me in cab and send me home."
It has been a mission of a lifetime for John to appear on Strictly in an all-male couple, the show's first after Nicola Adams and Katya Jones partnered up during last year's series.
"I’ve been championing this all my life… For the fact the moment is here now," he explained.
"It’s been lovely. I saw Nicola and Katya do it last year and was like yay, so when it does come round I would love to be a part of it.
He added: "I hope this kind of representation will inspire the next generation to live their true selves without shame or fear or judgement and/or persecution.
"I hope it also has a knock-on effect for more homophobic nations to wake up and make steps forward."
Strictly Come Dancing airs on Saturday night on BBC One.
