BBC Strictly fans issue same complaint as injured Nick Knowles returns to dancefloor
DIY SOS presenter Nick Knowles finally returned to the Strictly Come Dancing dance floor on Saturday, 12 October, after he missed last week’s show following a knee injury. He and professional partner Luba Mushtuk had been given a ‘bye’ so he could return to the show this week, and they performed the dance they had been due to deliver during Movie Week - a Charleston to Rain on the Roof from Paddington 2, which replicated a scene from the movie that Strictly’s own Craig Revel Horwood had choreographed back in 2017.
The couple received mixed comments from the judges, and scores of six from both Anton and Motsi, five from Shirley and four from Craig, giving them a total of 21 points. However, viewers online felt that the judges were still being too kind and were giving the injured presenter too much "leeway" due to his injuries.
One wrote: “How many sick notes does a school accept compared to the Strictly producers with Nick?” While another said: “Was that actually dancing? Not sure that was worth the two-week wait.” A third commented: “Not here for Nick basically getting sympathy votes for a few weeks… defo among the worst few,” while a fourth added: “This bending over backwards for Nick has got to stop.”
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However, some were sympathetic. One viewer said: “Feel sorry for Nick. Injured shoulder, followed by an injured knee. Sadly it does make your moves apprehensive, pain does that. Stats show those celebs who miss a week invariably get voted out the following week.” A second added: “I’m giving Nick a lot of respect, he’s injured, and it was fun, I also love a bit of Paddington.”
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Nick has suffered two injuries since signing up to the dance competition. First, he hurt his arm and shoulder when he changed a tyre by the roadside a few days before the second live show. Then, during rehearsals for Movie Week, he damaged his knee. He revealed on It Takes Two that the injury happened during a jump when he “leapt into position” and one leg stayed still, causing him to collapse and put pressure on the other knee.
He missed the show last week, and his future on the show this week was in doubt until the very last minute. On Wednesday, Nick revealed: “Each day it gets a little better. On Friday, it looked pretty bad, to be honest, and it felt bad on Saturday. But I got a scan, and we had a look at that and decided that we would wait until Monday.” He continued: “It’s a little stronger today, I got to see the physios and did a lot of rehab and saw the doctors. We have decided that they may give me the clearance to try and dance tomorrow. If I can rehearse, they will make the final decision on Friday – we’ll see how I do tomorrow.”
On Friday’s It Takes Two, just 24 hours before the live Saturday show, it was revealed he would be fit enough to dance, and Strictly viewers finally got to see his Paddington 2 routine.
