Strictly Come Dancing is one of the glitziest and most glamorous shows on TV, but behind all the sequins and sparkles there’s some serious hard graft as the celeb contestants spend hours a day in training to get as far as they can in the competition.
Ballroom can be a dangerous game and contestants have suffered some serious injuries over the years. Remember when Jamie Laing quit the show in 2019 after injuring his foot? The same year, Paralympian Will Bayley pulled out of the competition six weeks in after tearing his ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) and, in 2016, singer Anastacia was forced to miss a dance off after ripping her mastectomy scars.
Training has just begun for this year’s Strictly stars and although none of them have suffered any serious injuries at the moment, soap star Will Mellor has admitted that injuries are a serious concern for him.
When Closer caught up with the Strictly 2022 contestants before the start of the series, Will told us, “I don't want to get injured. I've got bad knees from football injuries, operations and stuff. I’m having to ice them every night.
“It's just, if they pop out in the middle of a dance routine live on telly, there's not much I can do because I will just hit the floor. They’ve popped out while I’ve been walking down the stairs before now. I can pop it back in but, at that moment, I have no strength in my legs.
“As long as that stays alright then whatever will be, will be. If I get voted out, I get voted out. I just want to make it through the journey, I don’t want to go out with injury. That would kill me because I would feel like I’ve not had the experience.”
Will also opened up about why he finally chose to take part in Strictly after being asked to do it in previous years.
He said, “I have been asked before and it scared me. Doing anything like this was scaring me, just because I was worried it would have a negative impact on my acting career. Then I lost my dad in 2020 and my mindset completely changed.
“I just thought you've got to grab life. You've got to do things and I'm going to say yes to more stuff and create memories. That really is what life's about. You realise that when you start losing people.
“I just thought, what am I afraid of? I'd rather look back and go ‘I’m glad I did that’ rather than ‘I should have done that’. They asked me and I straight away went, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do it’.”
Strictly Come Dancing starts on Friday 23 September at 7pm on BBC One before the first live show on Saturday 24 September.