Strictly star slams 'lack of duty of care' on the show as series left him with ‘horrific’ injury he’ll ‘never get over’
22 July 2024, 10:25
Paralympian Will Bayley has said he'll have to live with excruciating knee pain 'forever' after competing on Strictly Come Dancing.
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The table tennis player, 36, sustained the injury during rehearsals for the show in 2019 when he jumped from a table, it was his second attempt at the move after his professional partner Janette Manrara, 40, said his first was 'rubbish'.
Will was born with arthrogryposis which limits the range of motion in the joints of his limbs and completed the move with straight knees.
Read More: Ex-Strictly pro Giovanni Pernice 'expects to be cleared' amid misconduct allegations
Will told The Sun: “Now feels like the right time to speak up. I hope what I went through never happens to anyone else.
"I think the show thought they were being inclusive by casting me, but I actually felt pressured.
“I have got a serious disability and I don’t think anyone was really looking out for me when I injured myself, leaving me with injuries that still affect me to this day.
“No one has ever contacted me from the BBC or said sorry.
“There was no duty of care — I should have been taken to hospital as soon as I had the accident, but all they cared about was trying to get me to dance.”
Following the comments made by Will, the BBC said in a statement to The Mirror: "We have longstanding protocols for dealing with injuries if they occur and that includes contestants receiving all necessary treatment and support as required." The Mirror has also contacted Janette Manrara's representatives for comment.
After Graziano di Prima admitted to kicking his celebrity partner Zara McDermott during a training session and Amanda Abbington made claims about another Strictly dancer, Giovanni Pernice, and his training style, the BBC confirmed earlier this week that they would be doing additional steps to "strengthen welfare and support".
A statement from the BBC said: "The BBC is today announcing additional steps to strengthen welfare and support on Strictly Come Dancing. Concerns that have arisen in recent months have been fundamentally about training and rehearsals. The actions we announce today are designed to address that."
The BBC added that it would do three things including: having a production team member present during training room rehearsals at all time; appoint a celebrity welfare producer and a professional dancer welfare producer and deliver further training for the production team and crew."
