Lamar Odom was "worked up with emotion" during his final ‘Dancing with the Stars’ performance.
The former NBA star was voted off the competition last week after stumbling over the steps in his Viennese Waltz, and now his professional partner Peta Murgatroyd – who returned to the competition this year after a two-year hiatus – has said she believes the mistakes he made were down to heightened emotions because his family were in the audience.
She said: "On Sunday, the day before our live show, Lamar had our Viennese Waltz down pat. We were nailing the technique and the emotion, and I was so happy for him. For some reason on show day, he felt like he was about to hyperventilate with nerves. He was pacing back and forth for hours while we were in dress rehearsal, and his hands were constantly clammy. I did my best to calm him down, but it didn’t seem to work.
"I think Lamar was worked up with emotion with his children being in the audience and that, in turn, made him lose focus and second-guess himself. Our dance was beautiful, and I was so proud of him for showing emotion and really getting into it. There were mistakes and timing issues, and I was so sad because he really did have it nailed the day before."
And although he’s missed his chance on being crowned the winner of the series, Peta says she’s "proud" of how far Lamar had come.
Writing in her column for People magazine, the 33-year-old dancer said: "I think Lamar is the most improved dancer on the show. This is what ‘DWTS’ is all about, and I’m proud to say it. He did work hard and had to overcome many obstacles to just get out on the floor. He persevered through being at the bottom of the leader board every week and still came out with a smile on his face to dance again, to try again. We might have failed in the scores, but we won people’s hearts. I haven’t had a partner that has 99 percent of comments being positive about them on my social media. People were really rooting for him and resonated with his story of redemption."
Meanwhile, Lamar previously said his struggle to remember his steps came as a result of his near-fatal overdose in 2015, which saw him spend several weeks in hospital after collapsing in a brothel.
The 39-year-old star said: "I think from my accident. My cognitive memory … just memorising the dance routine was difficult at times, but I felt like I got better every week. It’s so crazy because I felt like this was my best dance tonight."
Lamar Odom ‘worked up’ during final Dancing with the Stars performance
