BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Wynne Evans feared he would die alone before huge weight loss

Opera singer turned Strictly Come Dancing star Wynne Evans narrowly escaped elimination from the competition last week. At 52, Wynne found himself in the bottom two with his dance partner Katya Jones, facing off against Shayne Ward and Nancy Xu in the dance-off.

The judges were divided in their decision, with Craig Revel-Horwood and Motsi Mabuse voting to save Shayne, while Anton Du Beke showed support for Wynne. It was down to head judge Shirley Ballas to make the final call, and she chose to save the face of the GoCompare adverts, allowing him to dance another week.

Despite the rollercoaster ride on Strictly, Wynne has been candid about his personal lows, particularly when his marriage ended. In 2016, after parting ways with Tanwen, the mother of his children, Wynne considered suicide.

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"It was almost like grief, but you can't grieve for somebody that's still there," Wynne previously reflected on darker times. "So, it really affected my mental health, my confidence and my ego - it totally changed me as a person.

"It made me very aware of being alone. And even though I was only 46 I had this irrational fear of dying on my own. I had very dark thoughts and very dark days where I would contemplate all sorts of terrible things."

Fortunately, he has since found happiness again with events manager Liz Brookes, 50, who has been seen supporting him from the Strictly stands. A moment between Wynne and Katya during the fourth live show caught media attention when she seemed to push his hand away from her waist, which they later explained as a playful jest.

"I'm absolutely heartbroken by the things that have been written about me," Wynne expressed on his BBC Radio Wales programme, reports the Mirror. "It's not nice to live in that time but basically Katya and I are really, really close and we're really good friends and on Saturday night we made a stupid joke."

Liz expressed her emotions on social media the same night by posting a heartwarming picture of them embracing on the dancefloor, captioning it "so proud of this one tonight".

"Wynne and Liz met at an event and are taking things slow, but he's excited about where the relationship might go," an insider revealed to The Sun. "He is in a much better place now than when his marriage ended. It's like night and day - and he is so happy."

Wynne's fitness enthusiast girlfriend is believed to have significantly contributed to his weight loss journey, with the star tipping the scales at 24 stone at his heaviest. He shed seven stone by cutting out bread, burgers and cheese and moderating his alcohol consumption.

Physical activity also played a part. "One day I started doing a little bit of running - well, walking, actually, at the start," he shared. "Then I slowly lost weight. So when the call came from Strictly I thought: 'This is the right spot'."

The Strictly Come Dancing star also bought an exercise bike and treadmill to use at home. He explained: “So if I'm at home and feeling a bit down I do 20 minutes on the treadmill and it's the best way to make myself feel brighter. It's like singing, which also releases endorphins in the body.”