Strictly’s Paul Merson reveals incredible weight loss as he admits he’s the lightest he’s been in 20 years

Paul Merson has revealed his incredible weight loss since starting Strictly Come Dancing last month.

The 56-year-old former England star confessed he is at his lightest weight in 20 years after almost losing second place after four weeks on the show.

Speaking to The Sun, the sports star joked that she needed to continue competing as she has yet to reach her target weight.

She explained: “My aim was to get well under 14 before I left Strictly, and now I’m 14 – I haven’t been this light in 20 years.”

Paul and his partner Karen Hauer were in the dance-off against Toyah Wilcox and Neil Jones during the third week of the competition.

Strictly’s Paul Merson has revealed his incredible weight loss as he admitted he’s the lightest he’s been in 20 years.

He explained: “My aim was to get well under 14 before I left Strictly, and now I’m 14 – I haven’t been this light in 20 years.”

However, all four judges opted to save Paul and the star returned to prove himself the following week after unexpectedly wowing the judges with his Quickstep to Fred Astaire’s I Won’t Dance.

Speaking about her dance experience, she added: “So when I was at the dance, I was like, ‘I’m 14 and 3 pounds, I’ve got to stay!'” So it’s not about staying to win, I just want to lose more weight.

“If I work hard this week I should be under 14.”

Paul found himself third in the standings last week and admitted that with Toyah out he will have to fight for his place in the competition as the standard is so high this year.

The star previously revealed that her other reason for doing Strictly was to inspire those who have suffered from addiction.

Despite his success on the pitch with Arsenal, at the height of his career in the 1990s, Paul was battling demons and his addictions to drink, drugs and gambling they got out of control

He confessed it when he was in the throes of his addiction, the thought of competing on Strictly didn’t even seem like a possibility as he could only focus on drink, drugs and gambling.

The athlete’s addiction was so vicious that he managed to get rid of 7 million pounds.

Despite being a successful sports star, Paul hasn’t always kept fit since leaving the pitch

Paul and his partner Karen Hauer were in the dance-off against Toyah Wilcox and Neil Jones during the third week of the competition.

Speaking about her dance experience, she added: “So when I was at the dance, I was like, ‘I’m 14 and 3 pounds, I’ve got to stay!'” So it’s not about staying to win, I just want to lose more weight’

Speaking to The Daily Mirror, he said: ‘Being an addict and a recovering alcoholic myself… to show people who watch this show who have addictions, that you can go out and do something like this… it’s very important”.

‘Because addiction takes you away from everything. That’s all it does. He wants you on your own.

Paul now hopes his story of addiction and recovery can inspire others as he prepares to hit the dance floor.

He added: “Now I’m going in front of millions of people doing something I’m not very good at. I used to think, ‘I can’t do things like that’, but now I have the chance to try.”