DIY SOS star Nick Knowles has pulled out of the Strictly Come Dancing live show on Saturday night due to an injury.
A post shared to Strictly’s Instagram page said: “Unfortunately, Nick Knowles sustained an injury during rehearsals and, as a result, will not dance this weekend.
“As per the rules of the competition, Nick and Luba (Mushtuk) will receive a bye through to next week when he is hopefully able to dance again.
“Everyone at Strictly Come Dancing wishes Nick a speedy recovery.”
Re-sharing the post on his own social media, the TV star, 62, said of this latest development: “I’m absolutely gutted and feeling very very sad,” followed by a sad face emoji.
Knowles sparked concern last week after being pictured wearing a sling and was almost unable to perform after sustaining an arm and shoulder injury while changing a flat tyre on the way to a family party.
Describing it as “an interesting couple of days, full of scans and physios and people helping me,” he was eventually given medical clearance to perform.
Having missed several training sessions due to the setback, it meant that Knowles only had 16 hours to prepare before performing his American Smooth to Parklife by Blue on Saturday’s show.
Although he was able to perform without his arm in a sling, thanks to caring Mushtuk adapting their routine to accommodate his injury, viewers noticed Knowles cradling his arm while judges Motsi Mabuse, Shirley Ballas, Craig Revel Horwood and Anton Du Beke critiqued their performance.
Several took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to praise him for soldiering on.
“I think Nick did well with his dance but he looked in pain with his arm at the end. Hope he's ok. Lovely choreography by Luba", remarked one.
"Nick is the literal definition of smiling through the pain right now he should've definitely sat this out", put in another.
While a third penned: "Fair play to Nick he did well considering he had 16 hours but I'm not fully convinced yet!"
In the end, Knowles and Mushtuk were awarded a respectable 21 out of a potential 40 points by the judging panel.
