Strictly Come Dancing: Will Bayley forced to quit after injury

Will Bayley has quit Strictly Come Dancing following his horror fall last week.

The Paralympic table-tennis champion suffered a scary fall during training with his dance partner Janette Manrara last week, which left him with a knee injury.

Read more: Strictly Come Dancing week 7 songs and dancing revealed

Will couldn’t perform during last week’s live show and was given a bye through to this Saturday (02.11.19), but doctors have now said his knee could take up to six months to heal.

I’m gutted my Strictly journey has had to come to an end.

It means he’ll have to pull out of the BBC Latin and ballroom dance competition completely.

View this post on Instagram

Great time on #ittakes2 with this little Senorita 🕺 can’t wait for Saturday guys! 🔥

A post shared by Will Bayley MBE (@willbayleytt) on Oct 16, 2019 at 11:14am PDT

The sports star – who suffers with arthrogyposis in all four of his limbs – said in a statement: “I’m gutted my Strictly journey has had to come to an end.

“I’ve loved being part of the show, and am so grateful for the phenomenal support we have received.

“I want to say a special thank you to Janette for believing in me, and giving me the confidence to believe in myself.

“The things we achieved, from our couple’s choice dance, through to the lifts in our salsa, will stay with me forever. I’ve had the time of my life.”

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Sadly Will Bayley is leaving #Strictly. @willbayleytt and @jmanrara will join @zoetheball on tonight’s #ItTakesTwo. Click the link in our bio to read the full statement.

A post shared by BBC Strictly (@bbcstrictly) on Oct 30, 2019 at 11:01am PDT

Read more: Strictly Come Dancing’s Katya misses training due to injury

Will suffered his injury on the day of the live show last Saturday, when he was rehearsing his jive with Janette.

The star performed part of his routine in which he jumped from a raised part of the stage, but twisted his right knee when he fell and was rushed to hospital when he was unable to get up from the floor.

No contestant is allowed to miss two weeks of the live shows, and as doctors say he needs six months’ rest to heal, he has had to pull out of the show.

Strictly Come Dancing will still eliminate one couple every week despite Will’s departure, meaning there will only be three couples in the final rather than the usual four.

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