The This Morning presenter said that the former Emmerdale star's success on the BBC show gave her the confidence to dance in front of the nation.
Alison Hammond and Aljaz Skorjanec
Asked if she had watched videos of dance partner Aljaz Skorjanec and 2013 winner Abbey Clancy performing together, Hammond replied: "Not once. If I watch anybody, I watch Lisa Riley and no-one else.
"I always watch what her tango was or her cha cha, because she's similar build to me and I like to see how she did it.
"I would probably never have done Strictly unless I'd seen Lisa Riley do it," she added. "She totally inspired me to do it. I think she's brilliant."
Wary of looking "silly", Hammond also said that she and partner Skorjanec take their training very seriously.
"We do take it seriously," she explained. "Because at the end of the day I don't want to look silly on Saturdays. So we do have times where we go 'Listen, we need to knuckle down now'. Not very often, but we do try."
The former Big Brother contestant continued: "Obviously I'm a big girl and a lot of people probably thought I wasn't going to be any good on the dancefloor and stuff like that.
"So I probably thought 'You know what, I'm going to have to show people that big girls can dance and big girls have got rhythm', and I did that in the first dance.
Alison Hammond and Aljaz Skorjanec
"Really and truly I'm just glad I got the opportunity to do that really."
Hammond also tipped EastEnders actor Jake Wood to win the show, and added that her "dream" would be to perform a routine in which she could fly.
"It's given me belief in myself to do anything I want to do," Hammond concluded. "And not let anybody tell me I can't do something because of my size or because of my colour.
"It's just given me the opportunity to say do you know what? I'm fierce and I can do anything."
Strictly Come Dancing continues tonight (October 26) at 7.20pm on BBC One.
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via All - Digital Spy - Entertainment and Media News
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