Dancing on Ice star Greg Rutherford faced quitting show after horror injury that nearly broke his hip
DANCING on Ice star Greg Rutherford has confessed he faced quitting the show after suffering a horror injury that nearly broke his hip.
Greg, 37, is set to make his debut on the famous rink in Sunday’s series premiere, but his time in training certainly hasn’t been plain-sailing.
The Olympic gold medallist found himself in the medic’s office as early as day one, after getting a bit too “excitable” in front of his co-stars.
Recounting how the accident happened, he told The Sun and other press, “Day one, it had to be bloody day one. We did the masterclass. We’re all hanging out together, having a really good time and doing all these little skills and pushing each other around, just having a good time.
“We started to get probably a little bit overly excitable. Well I did, in particular, and decided that to try and win a race rather than skate, I’d just sprint on my on my toe picks.
“Then, I got a little bit too quick for my legs and absolutely hit the deck like no tomorrow and, I’ll be totally honest, I thought I’d broken my hip.
“It was such a heavy impact and I think it’s going to be shown on the first show how big a hit it was and I had this massive egg form on my hip.
“I showed one of the coaches I just sort of said, ‘Is that normal, is that like a normal ice burn, sort of reaction?’ and they were like, ‘No, no, I think you should go and get that looked at.’
Greg continued, “Thankfully it recovered, but it was just a massive eye-opener straight away. But at the moment I did it, I was like, ‘That’s it, that’s my Dancing on Ice finished because it was the the amount of pain.”
Love Island star Amber Davies then jumped in, adding that he won the race for their team despite his fall.
Greg, who’s been paired with professional skater Vanessa James, jokingly replied, “Well, of course this is classic me. I will sacrifice myself for everybody else.
“But we did win, so that’s what was important so forget my injury. Winning the race was the most important thing.”
Greg was the fifth star to be confirmed for this year’s installment of the talent show.
In September, we revealed he would join the star-studded line-up alongside boxing legend Ricky Hatton, Coronation Street actress Claire Sweeney, S Club 7 singer Hannah Spearritt, and Love Island winner Amber Davies.
As well as being a sportsman, Greg also has dance experience from his time on Strictly Come Dancing in 2016, in which he danced with pro dancer Natalie Lowe.
- Dancing on Ice starts Sunday at 6:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX.