Dancing on Ice is taking hit after hit as a huge star has had to quit the competition just hours before tonight's live show due to an accident backstage.
This comes after comedian Josh Jones was forced to withdraw from the show last week after he sustained an injury in rehearsals. However, this time it is not a celebrity who is being forced to bow out, but one of the professionals.
Just a few hours before Sunday's episode, professional Vanessa Bauer sadly announced she was pulling out of the show due to an accident that happened backstage, reports the Mirror. This year she was partnered with Love Island star Chris Taylor, who scored 30 points in last week's Movie Night episode.
In a video, an upset looking Vanessa announced her departure from the show. She said: "I'm here today with rather upsetting news. I am unfortunately not going to be able to continue on Dancing on Ice with Chris. That's really upsetting for me.
"I have trained Chris since October last year and it is always such an amazing achievement for myself to see someone else progress so much in a skill they've never done before. So it's been really rewarding for me to watch this whole journey for Chris [and] the way he's got better each week since October and also since the live shows started."
She told her fans there is no way she can continue as an MRI scan has revealed she has sustained multiple injuries. She added: "I unfortunately had a little accident backstage last week on Dancing on Ice just before the live show on Sunday.
"And I didn't realise how bad it was then, but we did an MRI and it turned out that I have a completely torn ligament, grade three sprain injury and a major grade two sprain injury. I shouldn't be skating on an injury like that and so I'm taking all of the advice from the medical professionals here, I am in very good hands."
Since the news broke, her celebrity partner Chris Taylor has spoken out about how devastated he is that Vanessa is leaving the competition. In a heartfelt post, he described her as 'determined, committed and inspirational'. He said: "I'm very very sad but you have an annoying brother for life."
After sharing the post, Vanessa told fans of the show: "Thank you so much for your support this season and over the past 8 years! There is so much really exciting stuff happening this year and I’m looking forward to being properly healed for it! I’ll be there supporting you every step along the way."
This is not the first injury of the series, as comedian Josh Jones had to leave the competition early because of a leg injury in rehearsals. This incident meant that he and his partner Tippy Packard did not perform on the third week of the show.
Speaking to presenters Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern during the episode, he explained: "So we were skating, and I went over on my ankle (during rehearsals)… and I kind of twisted my ankle. And I’ve got a cold sore as well, so I’ve got (two lumps)."
Packard followed this up by saying: "We had so much potential to bring so many laughs to competition, and it’s a shame that we won’t be able to bring that journey."
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