With the departure of Nick Knowles from Strictly Come Dancing due to injury, it has been claimed Paul Merson is likely to be eliminated from the BBC show.

According to online bookmaker Grosvenor Sport, the former professional footballer, 56, has odds of 4/1 to leave the BBC show, as Nick was forced to bow out of this weekend’s competition. Aside from injuring his shoulder, the DIY SOS presenter then injured himself again, by hurting his knee during rehearsals with his professional dance partner Luba Muschtuk. Before his departure, Nick was given odds of 3/1 to leave the show. The presenter had only just recovered from his shoulder injury when he was struck down with another accident.

And while he was determined to continue, medics told him to have an MRI scan. A source told the Mirror: “The fact he is getting scans shows just how serious this is. There is only so much time they can give him to recover. Nick is a popular guy and losing him so early in the competition would be a blow to the show’s ratings too. It doesn’t look great at the moment so everyone is just hoping the outlook is better after the weekend.”

Remaining defiant before he bowed out of this weekend’s show, Nick shared with fans: “Even if we have to glitter up the crutches, I am determined to get back and dance for you next week.” And Luba added: “We really, really hope that the knee will be better for next week and we’ll be back on the dancefloor.”

Paul Merson is the favourite to leave Strictly Come Dancing after Nick Knowles exits BBC show this weekend ( 
Image:
BBC/Guy Levy)

Nick Knowles was forced to bow out of Strictly this weekend due to injury ( 
Image:
(Image: BBC))

But he then re-posted a message by Strictly that read: “Unfortunately, Nick Knowles sustained an injury during rehearsals and as a result, will not dance this weekend. As per the rules of the competition, Nick and Luba will receive a bye through to next week when he is hopefully able to dance again. Everyone at Strictly Come Dancing wishes Nick a speedy recovery.” This series marks the 20th anniversary of the show which has been blighted by serious allegations of bullying by Sherlock actress Amanda Abbington, regarding her professional dance partner, Giovanni Pernice.

The internal investigation into Amanda Abbington’s claims was recently concluded and the broadcaster apologised to the Sherlock actress. The BBC acknowledged six of the 17 allegations made against her former dance partner Giovanni Pernice. During an interview on Newsnight earlier this week, she made a further claim against the professional dancer. She said over the last eight months, the number of threats she has received has “gone into the hundreds.”

She told host Victoria Derbyshire: “I had a credible death threat sent to my place of work, a theatre that I was working at, which was credible and the police had to be called. I had a bomb threat sent to my place of work, threatening to blow the building up because I was pursuing this.”