Janette Manrara has been in contact with her former dance partner, Will Bayley, following his claims that Strictly Come Dancing left him with "horrific" injuries. Revealing that she remains on good terms with the table tennis star, Janette noted that she'd reached out to Will over text.
"I messaged him [Will] because we are really good friends. He immediately said: 'I'm so sorry, it's not meant to look like that. I don't want you to feel like it's you,' she explained. Replying to Will's message, Janette simply told him: "It's OK."
After appearing on Strictly in 2019, Will recently hit headlines by accusing the BBC of a 'lack of duty of care'. Speaking to The Sun, the 36-year-old said that the show had left him depressed and bedridden and that he still has "flashbacks" from a particularly painful injury sustained in rehearsals.
Will was born with arthrogryposis, which affects his limbs. As a result, his coach had told the Strictly team that Will would be unable to do jumps. After he was encouraged by his dance partner, Janette, to jump from a high table for a routine, Will ended up in immense pain.
"My knee will always be a problem. I can now only train for a couple hours before it's sore. I felt like it was my fault. The bosses made me feel like that," he added.
Will has continued to speak highly of Janette and noted that he has no hard feelings towards her. "Ultimately, I think she was under a lot of pressure by the bosses to perform a certain way and I think it was them pushing me that caused the accident," he explained.
Following up with an appearance on BBC Breakfast, Will echoed this sentiment. "Obviously, some of the reports have been sensationalised but I just want to say that Janette was incredibly supportive, hard-working and had a will to win like me," he pointed out.
"I thought we were an amazing team and we got on so well. We were ultra-professional and wanted to win. "Obviously, there are things that could have gone better," Will continued.
"My injury could have been avoided because maybe professional dancers need extra support in training if you're working with someone with a severe disability."
While Strictly has come under fire in recent weeks, BBC boss Tim Davie has confirmed that season 20 will go ahead in September. Issuing a public apology amid ongoing 'gross misconduct' claims against Giovanni Pernice and Graziano di Prima, the Director General said: "We never tolerate unacceptable behaviour of any kind."
"We have a brilliant line-up this year and are keen to get going," noted Tim.