Paul Merson hopes to inspire on Strictly Come Dancing

Paul Merson hopes to become a source of inspiration through his 'Strictly Come Dancing' experience.

The 56-year-old former sports star has signed up for the new series of the BBC show, and Paul - who has battled addictions to alcohol, drugs and gambling - hopes to become an inspiration for TV viewers.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, he explained: "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.

"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."

Paul has admitted to being out of his " comfort zone" on the TV show.

The former Arsenal star has also confessed to being impressed by his 'Strictly' co-stars.

Paul - who has been married three times - shared: "I’ve danced three times in my life and they were all at my wedding.

"I’m so far out of my comfort zone. But it’s good.

"When I got to training yesterday a group of the celebs were already doing their dancing and I was blown away. I just thought everybody was going to be s***. Honestly I’d never seen anything like it. It was very impressive."

What's more, Paul admitted that he's never even watched the hit TV show.

He said: "I’ve never seen it, because it’s on when football is on and my job.

"To go there today and see it all, I just can’t believe how big the show is. From the outside looking in, I honestly did not realise how big it was. This is like … I’ve played in cup finals and in front of thousands and it’s not like this."