Entertainment
Strictly Come Dancing’s Ugo Monye shares health update as he makes return to dance floor
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Ugo Monye has updated Strictly Come Dancing fans on his health ahead of Saturday’s show, reassuring viewers that he is ‘back fit’ and ‘looking forward’ to their next performance after undergoing a hospital procedure.
The rugby star, who is partnered with professional dancer Oti Mabuse, pulled out of last weekend’s show under medical advice after his ‘history of back problems’ started to cause issues.
Appearing on Tuesday’s episode of Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two, Ugo said: ‘I’m doing okay – I had a couple of injections into my spine on Friday, a couple of days rest and Oti’s looked after me like a trooper this week.
‘I’ve been able to get back onto the d-floor and looking forward to Saturday night.’
He described the injury as ‘historic’ and that dance training had caused it to flare up.
‘I have never had to do this stuff that I have had to do over the last four weeks, it’s just triggered it,’ he explained.
Ugo is on the mend now (Picture: BBC)
The star showed off a decidedly less glamorous gown than Strictly’s usual standards (Picture: BBC)
He also thanked the ‘unbelievable’ Strictly Come Dancing production staff for ‘that weekend of grace to get myself back fit’.
The retired athlete also confirmed that he gone to hospital on Friday for ‘a little procedure’, which was ‘great’.
He is now focusing on ‘trying to get a balance between doing enough and not allowing my back to flare up, which is so frustrating because the lines are so blurred’.
‘I want to keep pushing, pushing, pushing, but I also don’t want to push too far whereby I can’t dance on Saturday.’
For Ugo’s last appearance, he and Oti danced to a song from Disney film Moana (Picture: Guy Levy/BBC/PA)
This weekend Ugo will tackle the notoriously challenging rumba to Leave The Door Open by Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak and Silk Sonic.
Saturday saw actor Greg Wise and his partner Karen Hauer eliminated after losing to comedian Judi Love and Graziano Di Prima in the dance off with their samba.
More: Strictly Come Dancing
Ahead of last week’s broadcast, actor Robert Webb also left the competition for good, citing health issues after previous open heart surgery.
At the top of the show, hosts Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman sent a sweet message to both Ugo and Robert as they said the programme’s cast and crew were ‘sending all the love’.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One on Saturday at 7.05pm.
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