DANCING ON PRETTY THIN ICE
Dancing On Ice, ITV
FROM broken ribs to faces slashed by skating blades, Dancing On Ice seems to feature nasty injuries every year.
Last week, Denise van Outen, 46, was taken to hospital with a dislocated left shoulder after falling during rehearsals.
‘I’ve taken a few tumbles since we started training but, with this one, I knew immediately it wasn’t good,’ she said. ‘I hit my toe pick and went flying. Straightaway I knew I’d done something. I thought, “Please don’t let it be a break”.’
Last year’s winner Joe Swash was injured when his pro partner Alex Murphy accidentally caught his ear with her skate, leaving Swash wearing a bandage on his head before the final.
In 2018, Coronation Street actor Anthony Cotton broke several ribs after a fall.
In the 2012 series, former Brookside star Jennifer Ellison smashed her own head with her blade during a ballet-like manoeuvre that saw her kick her leg up behind her. Luckily, she was patched up by paramedics and continued to compete.
And it’s not just the celebrity contestants at risk.
Professionals Yebin Mok and Andy Buchanan have also been injured this month. Mok, partnering Olympic skier Graham Bell, is out of the show for now after being stabbed in the leg by a skating blade. Judge Jayne Torvill said: ‘This was a particularly nasty one. We have all had a kick on the shin but this was a lot more than that.
Buchanan, partnering WAG Rebekah Vardy, ended up in hospital with a ‘sliced face’ after a rehearsal went awry and her heel injured his cheek.
Vardy said: ‘It was awful; I think I’ve just come to terms with scarring his face.’ RISKOMETER RATING: 4/5