Simon Rimmer has received an "overwhelming" amount of support following his dance to ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’.
The 54-year-old television chef performed a waltz to the emotional track – which is synonymous with Liverpool FC – during the first week of the BBC Latin and ballroom dance competition last month.
And he has now revealed he has been receiving "humbling" messages of support from the public, who were particularly moved by the performance’s nod to the 96 football fans – most of them Liverpool supporters – who tragically lost their lives at Sheffield’s Hillsborough stadium in 1989 as a result of being crushed by overcrowding.
Simon – who supports Liverpool and was at the stadium at the time – said: "I couldn’t have done that song without it having huge relevance to Hillsborough. Since then the amount of messages and people coming up to me in the street, it’s been genuinely overwhelming and humbling.
"It’s been quite unbelievable. I’ve got a couple of clubs in Liverpool and they’ve been screening ‘Strictly’ every week. My manager said literally there wasn’t a dry eye in the house that night.
"I was there the day it happened at Hillsborough and it’s massively close to my heart. However long my ‘Strictly’ journey lasts, that will live on for a very long time … the memory of the routine and the effect it had on people."
Simon’s performance with his partner Karen Clifton left head judge Shirley Ballas, who was born in the city, in tears, but the ‘Sunday Brunch’ host insists he didn’t do the dance for "effect".
He told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: "It wasn’t done for any effect. It wasn’t done to garner votes or be dramatic. It was a real feeling and a real sensation. I was honoured to do it.
"But I was wrecked that day … there’s no two ways about it. I knew that was what would be on my mind when I was dancing.
"My wife was there that night to support me. And Karen was brilliant. She knew how tough it was for me that day. She felt it too. And every single other contestant on the show was just delightful about it."
Simon Rimmer’s ‘overwhelming’ Strictly Come Dancing support
