Amy Dowden has said the support of fellow dancers and staff at Strictly Come Dancing allowed her to feel “liberated” when she returned to the show not wearing a wig.
During an appearance on the BBC dancing show on Saturday, the 33-year-old Welsh dancer emerged from behind a golden fringe wall, sporting a shaved head and white glittery dress to read voting terms and conditions.
Dowden has had a mastectomy after discovering she had stage three breast cancer, and would be unable to have a celebrity partner on the show this year.
She told Wednesday’s Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two: “So my wig wasn’t ready for the dress run because the last time I’d worn it, I had hair at Strictly.
“Dianne (Buswell) was just going on all day at me saying ‘You know you look so beautiful, don’t wear your headscarf’.
“I went out and did it in dress run and I just realised like the Strictly family treated me no different… they just give me so much love and support.
“I spoke to production beforehand, the hair and make-up girls were going ‘don’t wear the wig’ … and I just felt really liberated and I didn’t tell anyone, I didn’t tell my husband, my parents because I wasn’t quite sure. I was nervous.
“(Husband and dancer) Ben (Jones) said to me when I went home ‘I could tell you were nervous’ but I’m so glad I did it (because) now it doesn’t matter if I’ve got my wig or not.”
On Sunday, she also went without her wig during the Pride of Britain awards and wore a pink breast cancer awareness pin.
The Caerphilly-born dancer also spoke about how showing herself being shaved on social media was inspired by other people she had met through raising awareness of cancer.
She also said: “I found losing my hair really traumatic… I couldn’t even brush my own hair in the end my husband had to… I couldn’t look in the mirror in the end because I was bald on top.
“One night… I told my family that ‘I’m shaving it tomorrow’…. I hope to use my platform to help others and give them the courage and the strength they need. And actually, the response I got was just so overwhelming.”
She also gave an update on her health treatments saying that she is “over halfway” through chemotherapy with another session on Thursday.
Dowden added: “I’m not going to lie it is tough but I’m staying strong and positive. I just want to raise as much awareness as I possibly can and get everybody to check (for cancer).”
