Dani Dyer has branded herself as “accident prone” while reflecting on the injuries she’s suffered throughout her time on reality television. Before Strictly Come Dancing’s first live show of the series last weekend, the 29-year-old announced her withdrawal from the contest on medical advice, after fracturing her ankle.
Dani’s setback came during training with her dance partner Nikita Kuzmin and was later warned by doctors that it would get worse if she continued dancing.
Advised to put her wellbeing first, she’s now recuperating at home with the support of her husband Jarrod Bowen, who plays for West Ham. Discussing her setback on the podcast Live and Let Dyers, which she hosts alongside her dad Danny Dyer, Dani addressed a previous incident from another reality programme.
During her stint on Survival of the Fittest in 2018, the mum-of-three put her shoulder out of joint in the opening challenge and had to withdraw from the show.
“I’m clearly accident prone,” she confessed, while expressing concern about another future injury due to “things coming in threes”.
“I dislocated my shoulder on Survival of the Fittest, and that was meant to happen,” she revealed. Danny chimed in, saying: “This has happened for a reason, but we just don’t know what the f*****g reason is yet.
“The reason you injured yourself on Survival of the Fittest was because they pulled you out of that show and put you on Love Island.
“They never would have put you on Love Island if your collarbone hadn’t popped on that slide.It popped, they took you out, and they gave you Love Island, and you won it. There was a f*****g reason.
“If you hadn’t popped your collarbone, you wouldn’t have done that show. If you’d stayed in with a sling on, you would never have won it.” Dani added: “I couldn’t have done it physically, so everything happened as it should have.”
Despite her recent injury blow, the reality television personality has voiced her ambition to mirror Jamie Laing’s journey of making a comeback to Strictly after an injury.
Since her exit, Dani’s fellow Love Island star and West End performer Amber Davies has stepped into her shoes, winning over viewers with her rapid progress and commitment. During last weekend’s show, Amber and Nikita secured 27 points out of a possible 40 for their Waltz performance.
Viewers were particularly impressed by her efforts as she only had one day to master the routine. While some suggested her theatrical background gave her an advantage, Amber was eager to address these assumptions on Strictly: It Takes Two.
She explained: “Ballroom and Latin are worlds apart from what I’ve experienced on a West End stage. It’s a completely different technique and it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
This weekend, the pair will tackle the Samba to Bam Bam by Camila Cabello and Ed Sheeran, aiming to impress the public and judges once again.