Amy Dowden was in tears as she opened up about her Strictly Come Dancing exit on the show’s sister programme It Takes Two.

The Welsh dancer announced she had to quit the show in a heartbreaking announcement. It has left her partner JB Gill ready to pair up with pro Lauren Oakley. However, Amy was keen to stress how exit was “nothing to do with any previous health scares”. Among them were a cancer diagnosis in May 2023. She was also diagnosed with Crohn’s in 2019.

However, she confirmed it was her painful foot injury that caused her to pull out of this year’s competition. Speaking to Janette Manrara on the Strictly spin-off show, she said: “I’m absolutely gutted, unfortunately I have an insufficiency stress fracture, if I’ve said that right, on my shin.

JB Gill and Amy Dowden ( 
Image:

PA Media)
Amy added: “This injury could have happened to anybody. I want to stress it’s nothing to do with any previous health scares.”

The devastating blow came after she had returned to competing in the BBC show for its 20th anniversary series after missing out last year while undergoing cancer treatment.

Amy had previously been vocal about her battle with stage three breast cancer, receiving treatments ranging from mastectomy to chemotherapy. Earlier this year, she shared an uplifting update that her tests indicated “no evidence of disease”. The inspirational Caerphilly dancer has been candid about her experiences, bringing her cancer fight and living with Crohn’s disease into the spotlight through various BBC documentaries.

The 34-year-old added to Janette: “Hopefully I’ll be back dancing in some capacity, maybe in a group number, by the end of the series.”

With JB Gill ready to continue in this week’s show, he paid a gushing tribute to his former partner in a clip on the show in which he praised her “beautiful soul”.

Hours earlier he had taken to Instagram to share further praise with his followers. “It was like we’d been friends forever and as a friend, it’s been heartbreaking seeing the wonderful journey we’d begun come to a halt,” he said before adding his admiration for her.

“Your dedication to your art shines through in your passion for what you love. You would literally give anything to be on that ballroom floor dancing and I feel truly honoured to have shared it with you for 6 weeks,” he added.

At the end of his lengthy tribute, he signed off: “Our memories and moments will forever be in strictly history and I have no doubt you’ll be back, stronger and better than ever. God bless you always.”