Strictly Come Dancing sensation, Layton Williams, has shared a touching post from a fan after the Strictly final.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
On Saturday (16 December) Layton and his pro-dance partner, Nikita Kuzmin, competed in the Strictly final opposite Ellie Leach and Vito Coppola, and Bobby Brazier and Dianne Buswell.
Ultimately, it was Leach, a former Coronation Street star, who took home the glitterball trophy. It was despite tremendous support for Williams who excelled during the competition.
“The best way for me to represent the community is [to] just be 100% authentically myself”
Taking to his Instagram story on Sunday (17 December) the Everybody’s Talking About Jamie star shared a post from another Instagram user.
The image showed a young child wearing what appears to be an Elsa from Frozen costume. A caption alongside it read: “A lot of heart break in our house today over the [Strictly] result.”
Then, in a demonstration of the power of visibility and representation, the person thanked Williams and Kuzmin “from the bottom of our hearts for showing him that being fully, fabulously, unapologetically himself is to be celebrated.”
Sharing the post Williams added a red heart emoji and the emoji face with tears welling up. Before Strictly 2023 launched Williams told Attitude: “I feel like the best way for me to represent the community is [to] just be 100% authentically myself.” During the series, Williams also performed in drag, which was celebrated by fans of the show.
Much like John Whaite and Johannes Radebe before them, Williams and Kuzmin were competing to be the first same-sex pairing to win Strictly. They got four perfect scores throughout the series. Out of the three dances all three pairs did in Saturday’s final, Williams and Kuzmin only dropped one point earning 119 out of 120.
However, the final was decided by a public vote. This put Williams at a disadvantage given the criticism over his theatrical background coming into the show. Clapping back against online haters previously Williams said on X: “I’m just here to have fun like all the other contestants. I’m trying to handle this with a smile and determination to slay another day but reminder #BeKind.”