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joe swash injury© Photo: Rex

Joe Swash rushed to hospital for emergency surgery after nasty ear injury

The Dancing on Ice star will have to wear a head bandage until Sunday

Jenni McKnight
US Lifestyle Editor
Updated: March 5, 2020
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Joe Swash has admitted he was rushed to hospital on Wednesday after suffering a nasty injury during rehearsals for Dancing on Ice. The former soap star had to undergo emergency surgery after his skating partner Alex Murphy accidentally sliced his ear with her skate during a risky move on the ice. Explaining how the incident gave him "cauliflower ear", which then became infected, Joe has now been forced to wear a huge bandage on his head until the show's final on Sunday.

WATCH: Dancing on Ice in just 60 seconds

"I've knocked the ear and it's like a cauliflower ear, it just got swollen and they had to drain it and cut it a little bit," the 38-year-old explained on Instagram. "But the bad thing is I've got to keep (the bandage) on until Sunday. I'm going to have to take it off for the show, but I've got to keep it on all week. I did say to them, 'Is it not a little bit overkill?' And they were like, 'No, it's the only way we can bandage an ear.'"

MORE: Inside Dancing On Ice contestant Joe Swash’s love life: from Emma Sophocleous to Stacey Solomon

joe swash injury 2© Photo: Instagram

Joe Swash had to have emergency surgery on his ear

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Unfortunately for the TV star, it appears he has received little sympathy for his injury. He joked: "I'd have loved to have had a bit of sympathy from people. I phoned up Alex and Dan Whiston (Dancing On Ice's associate creative director) and they just laughed at me. My mum phoned me and made me go round the house just so she could see it and have a laugh. Then Stacey (Solomon) phoned me going, 'Where are you?' and then she did a whole build-up (on Instagram) saying, 'I don't know where Joe is'. And then I turned up and she had the camera straight in my face!"

His partner Alex said: "I've never had that injury happen, I've done these roly polys before and it's never happened ever, with anyone, only with Joe. It wouldn't be a final if something hadn't gone wrong for us." Joe and Alex will skate against Perri Kiely and Libby Clegg during Sunday's final in a bid to win Dancing On Ice.

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