Jamie Laing's future on Strictly Come Dancing has been thrown into some doubt. The Made in Chelsea star has been photographed walking with crutches and wearing a moon boot. He reportedly landed awkwardly during the group dance for Friday's pre-recorded launch show and has damaged a tendon in his right foot, according to the Sun. Jamie, 30, is said to be having a scan this week to determine whether he can continue in the dance competition. HELLO! has contacted Jamie's representatives for comment.
Jamie, heir to the McVitie's food brand fortune, was the 11th celebrity contestant revealed this year. During an appearance on Loose Women, the TV star confirmed he was taking part in the BBC show, saying: "I am beyond thrilled to be asked to be on Strictly, the only person potentially more thrilled is my mother. I have finally become the son she hoped for!"
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It’s a critical time in the contest given that the celebrities have only just learned who their professional dance partners will be. Thankfully, Jamie does have some previous experience to fall back on; it has been revealed that he actually studied dance at the University of Leeds. In an unearthed interview from The Greatest Dancer podcast, Jamie confirmed that he studied contemporary dance for a year as part of his theatre and performance degree.
"When it came to finally enrolling in my course, people had already picked what they wanted to do and the only thing that was left was contemporary dance," Jamie admitted. "So for the whole first year, I had to do contemporary dance. As I was the only boy, I had to be the bulb in the flowers and all the girls were petals." But the 30-year-old did insist that his skills were not up to standard, and the course actually put him off dancing. He later spoke further about his dancing experience to HELLO!, saying: "I did something called 'summertime' which was interpretive dance where all the girls were the petals and I was the bulb, and I came up and had a bit and I had to say 'summertime!' and it was great." On whether this interpretive dance would help him on his Strictly journey, Jamie joked: "I think it will. I think if it wasn't for that I'd be in real (expletive)!"