Nick Knowles makes gloomy prediction about Strictly after huge setback

DIY SOS host and new Strictly Come Dancing star Nick Knowles gave an interview before his injury and suggested he could be a hit or miss on dancefloor

Nick Knowles admitted he might not be "in the show very long" on Strictly Come Dancing - just days before his arm injury which could force him out of the competition.

The DIY SOS star gave an interview with pro partner Luba Mushtuk about their progress so far in training. Asked on his chances of winning the Glitterball he said: "It might turn out that I can't dance at all, in which case I won't be in the show for very long. But I might surprise myself and surprise everybody at home and start looking like a dancer."

He went on: "I don't think you enter into a competition, if you don't set out to win. I plan to throw myself at it and, hopefully the judges will see that, although it's not Strictly if you haven't had proper criticism from Craig Revel Horwood!"

TV star Nick's future is now in doubt after he damaged his left arm while changing a tyre. He had a scan on the arm at London’s Harley Street on Monday and now is awaiting results which could see him forced to take a break or worse still pull out completely. Worryingly, in the interview with this week's TV Times, he also admitted a lot of his dance moves involved his arms.

Asked why he wanted to be on the show, Nick said: "I'd like to achieve some dignity on the dance floor, because at the moment, I don't have any. My dancing is a lot of shoulders and elbows and not much style, so it's as simple as wanting to learn to dance. My two sisters are dancers, but we were very traditional family, and from a young age, I was shifted into playing sport."

Russian pro Luba, 34, is hopeful they can work around the injury. On BBC show It Takes Two she said of the arm in a sling: “First, I think we’ll sparkle this part. We still have a perfect position on his right arm, and we’ve got to do perfect footwork. We might even do a lift on his right arm. I’ll make it work.”

Nick has admitted the show is an intense workout and he is struggling to keep up with the pace in training. He has already lost weight and admitted the daily dancefloor sessions leave him exhausted.

He added to TV Times: "There's no getting away from the fact that, as a 62-year-old who put a load of weight on during lockdown. It's a challenge, but Luba is fantastically patient. It's more me getting frustrated with myself than anything else.

"It's the most physically draining thing ever. I'm six foot two inches and 17.5 stone, and there's only so far you can push yourself at 62, but Luba is on top of that. She's like, 'you need a rest. Take a drink'.

"I'm very much like a mobile phone. You can actually start to see where my batteries are getting low. The other day, I only made it to 4:30pm before I was done."

Yesterday on social media Nick spoke more about his arm injury which happened on Sunday. He said: “As I took the tyre off, I basically damaged my bicep and arm. I just want to say thank you to the two policemen from Taplow who turned up and helped me get the tyre back on.”

Speaking about the pain, Nick added: “I went on, and I was like, ‘OK, it’s fine, I’ve hurt it but it’s OK.' Then it got worse and worse and worse, and I actually missed my birthday party, because of being stuck on the motorway.”

Nick and Luba did well during the first live show at the weekend scoring 18 points out of 40 for their jive to Starship’s We Built This City.

* The full interview with Nick and Luba is in the latest TV Times, out now.

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