Nick Knowles won't recover from Strictly Come Dancing injury for eight months
Nick Knowles has revealed won't be fully recovered from his injury on 'Strictly Come Dancing' for eight months following an operation to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Nick Knowles won't be fully recovered from his injury on 'Strictly Come Dancing' for eight months.
The 62-year-old TV star tore his anterior cruciate ligament whilst rehearsing with professional dancer Luba Mushtuk for the BBC One ballroom show.
After taking a week off from the series, Nick returned to the dancefloor but after struggling through a Charleston to 'Rain on the Roof' - which features in the film 'Paddington 2' - he was sent home by the judges.
Nick - who also tore a bicep trying to change a tyre on his car prior to his knee injury - has now given a time line for his recovery and admits he won't be back to full fitness for several months.
Speaking to media at the launch of Cirque du Soleil Corteo at London's Royal Albert Hall, Nick - who was joined on the red carpet by his fiancée Katie Dadzie - said: "I’m still recovering.
“It’s going to be, like, eight months before I’m 100 per cent again. I think I’ll get back to doing less dangerous things like climbing mountains and riding motorbikes!
“I did 40 years of rugby and got away with it without major injury.
“I had a really good surgeon, really good physios. I had two operations; one to re-attach my bicep and one to re-construct my knee. The bicep was done trying to take a wheel off my Range Rover in the rain and I slipped and basically detached my bicep. I carried on dancing for about three weeks and then I did the ACL on 'Strictly'."
Nick is very motivated to get fit again because he still enjoys daredevil activities and playing sport with his son.
He said: "I’ve done all kinds of weird things like riding motorbikes in the desert, riding polo ponies and doing all kinds of activities. That’s the reason why I had the operations, even at my age I wanted to get back to the point where I could get back to doing all the adventurous stuff that I did before.
“I go surfing with my 10-year-old son and we play a lot of sport together, it was worth putting the effort in even as knackered and old as I am to try and get everything working again.”
Although Nick's 'Strictly' journey was ultimately cut short because of his injury, the 'DIY SOS' star doesn't want a second chance on the ballroom and he has no regrets about agreeing to go on the programme.
He said: "I don’t think anybody goes back. I think some of them do the Christmas special and then go again the following year.
“I was still four weeks into it. I’ve done the stint that I did, I would have like to have continued longer, obviously, because I was really enjoying it, but I had the knee injury.
“I don’t regret doing it at all. You don’t go into things and then regret doing it afterwards. It was enormous fun, I would have liked to have lasted longer. No, I never regret any decision I make to take part in things."
The star-studded launch of Cirque du Soleil Corteo was also attended by Lady Anita Dobson, Sir David Jason, Sir Lenny Henry, Daisy Ridley, Hayley Atwell, Bryony Page, Damon Hill, Jaime Winstone and Jason Isaacs among others.
