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

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

The former England star, 56, confessed he is at his lightest weight in 20 years after already shedding almost 2st after four weeks performing on the show. 

Speaking to The Sun, the sports star joked he needs to remain in the competition as he is yet to hit his goal weight. 

He explained: ‘My aim was to get well under 14st before I went out of Strictly, and I’m 14st right now — I haven’t been that light for 20 years.’

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

He explained: ‘My aim was to get well under 14st before I went out of Strictly, and I’m 14st right now — I haven’t been that light for 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 I Won’t Dance by Fred Astaire.

Discussing his dance off experience he added: ‘So when I was in the dance-off I was like, “I’m 14st 3lb — I need to stay!” So it’s not about staying in to win, I just want to lose more weight.

‘If I work hard this week I should get under 14st.’

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

The star previously revealed his other motive for doing Strictly was to inspire those who have suffered with addiction. 

Despite his success on the pitch with Arsenal, at the height of his career in the 1990s Paul was battling demons and his drinking, drug and gambling addictions spiralled out of control. 

He confessed that when he was in the grip of his addiction, the idea of competing in Strictly didn’t even seem like a possibility as he could only focus on drinking, drugs and gambling.

The athlete’s addiction was so vicious that he managed to fritter away a staggering £7million.

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

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

Discussing his dance off experience he added: ‘So when I was in the dance-off I was like, “I’m 14st 3lb — I need to stay!” So it’s not about staying in 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 watching this show who have got addictions, that you can go out and do something like this…is so important.’

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

Paul now hopes that his story of addiction and recovery can inspire others as he prepares to take to the dancefloor. 

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’ve got the opportunity to try.’