Paralympian Will Bayley has spoken out about the daily pain he endures after sustaining an injury during his time on Strictly Come Dancing.
The 36-year-old British table tennis player competed in the 2019 series of the BBC dance show with Janette Manrara.
But he was forced to retire early when he heard his leg “crack” on his second attempt to jump off a table during studio rehearsals, after Janette said his first was “rubbish”.
And a clip resurfaced and aired during that year’s live shows and showed the devastating moment Will was curled up on the floor in pain after the jump.
In the video, Tess can be heard explaining that Will had been injured and would not be dancing that week, while the athlete was shown lying on the ground in agony with a doctor crouched over helping him with first aid.
Paralympian Will Bayley spoke to The Sun on Sunday about the daily pain he endures after sustaining an injury during his time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2019.
The 36-year-old British table tennis player competed in the 2019 series of the BBC dance show with Janette Manrara.
Janette also looked visibly distressed as she sat comforting her celebrity partner. In a later part of the video, Janette was comforted by fellow professional dancer Nancy Xu.
“I jumped off the table and when I landed, I landed with my legs stretched out,” Will told VT at the time.
‘I thought I had broken my leg because I had never felt anything like that before, but luckily it’s not as serious as I first thought.
“Hearing the words ‘I can’t dance at all’ is really heartbreaking for me, but I need to recover now and come back even stronger next week.”
Will was given a one-week pass before having to withdraw from the competition altogether when his injury meant he would have to miss another live show.
The athlete was born with arthrogryposis which limits the range of motion in the joints of his limbs and completed the movement with his knees straight.
Recalling the “horrible pain” he experienced when he fell to the ground, the gold medallist admitted he thought “his whole career was over”.
Speaking to SunWill said:We practiced a couple of times and I was very careful. But then Janette said that my jump was “rubbish” and that I needed to smile more, try and show some passion.
And a clip resurfaced and aired during that year’s live shows and showed the devastating moment Will was curled up on the floor in pain after the jump.
Paralympian Will said he will have to live with excruciating knee pain “forever” after competing on Strictly (pictured in 2021)
The table tennis player suffered the injury during rehearsals in 2019 when he jumped off a table, it was his second attempt at the move after Janette Manrara said the first was “rubbish”.
Recalling the “terrible pain” he experienced when he fell to the ground, the gold medallist admitted he thought “his whole career was over”.
Determined to improve, the athlete ‘went for it all’ but experienced ‘‘the most horrible pain.’
“I was lying on the ground thinking my race was over. I heard my leg cracking, I couldn’t breathe,” he said.
“I’ll never recover from that injury, it’s lifelong. I already have a limiting disability, but on top of that, I wake up in the morning and it hurts. Now I can only train for a couple of hours before it hurts.”
Will explained that he “didn’t have any problems with Janette” but that he felt she was under pressure from the show’s bosses. They have remained friends since they were on the show.
MailOnline has contacted Janette Manrara’s representative for comment.
A BBC spokesperson said: “We will not comment on individual people or engage in speculation. However, as we have said previously, we will always listen if people want to report something to us or raise it directly with us and we have appropriate procedures and processes in place to manage this.”
“I will never recover from that injury, it’s lifelong. I already have a limiting disability, but on top of that, I wake up in the morning and it hurts,” he said.
At the time of his injury, Will praised his dance partner Janette for being “like a rock” after their “amazing experience” came to an end, leaving her in tears.
At the time of his injury, Will praised his dance partner Janette for being “like a rock” after their “amazing experience” came to an end, leaving her in tears.
He described hearing a pop in his knee and thinking he had broken his leg before a doctor told him he had torn his ACL.
Appearing on the show as part of the audience, Will said: ‘I’m so gutted but it’s so good to be here to support everyone, everyone is killing it tonight.’
‘I feel like I’ve had the most support throughout this whole process, the least I can do is come back and be proud to see them.’
She added: “It’s getting closer. I want to see what it’s like in a couple of weeks, but I’ll be there in Tokyo. I want to try to win that gold medal again.”
“The highlight of my life has been having my partner Janette, she has been like my rock, I can’t speak highly enough of her.”
After recovering from his injury, Will won individual and team silver at the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Games in 2021.
After recovering from his injury, Will won individual and team silver at the rearranged 2020 Tokyo Games in 2021 (pictured this month)
