Sports star Kye Whyte has been forced to withdraw from this weekend’s Dancing On Ice after suffering an injury in rehearsals, ITV has announced.
The Olympian, who took home a silver medal in the men’s BMX Supercross at Tokyo 2020, has sprained his knee and is now taking some time out of training to recover.
“It’s an unfortunate accident,” Whyte said in a statement. “I’ve trained and worked hard with [professional partner Tippy Packard] to perform this weekend.
“For me, as an athlete, I’m used to stuff like this happening where you get injured and can’t compete. I’m more sad for Tippy, she’s worked hard so not being able to skate is obviously upsetting. We both really wanted to do this number, it’s a cool performance and we put a lot of effort into it.
“I was so happy and excited for everyone when they skated last weekend. I was watching and couldn’t wait to skate this Sunday. I’ll be there cheering everyone on!”
The unfortunate mishap comes after fellow contestant Rachel Stevens had to postpone her debut performance after falling on the ice and fracturing her wrist.
Whyte was one of six celebrities to dance in the opening episode of the series, finishing in a respectable fourth place with a grand total of 24 points from the judging panel.
The news broke via Dancing On Ice’s official Instagram page, which shared an image of Whyte paired with the following caption: “During rehearsals for this Sunday’s show, Kye fell on the ice and sustained an injury, a sprain to his knee.
“He will therefore not perform in this weekend’s show.”
!["Kye]("https://images.immediate.co.uk/production/volatile/sites/3/2021/10/Kye-Whyte-and-Tippy-Packard-b5af694.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413" "\"Kye-Whyte-and-Tippy-Packard\"")
Notably, the message only ruled out an appearance on tomorrow night’s episode of Dancing On Ice, suggesting that Whyte could return further into the series, as echoed by Whyte’s own comments.
Stevens took just one week off to recover from her wrist fracture so there is hope, although the exact severity of Whyte’s sprain has not been made known.
The first contestant to be eliminated from this year’s Dancing On Ice was rugby player Ben Foden, who faced television presenter Ria Hebden in the dreaded skate-off.
The Dancing On Ice line-up also includes singer Kimberly Wyatt, Corrie star Sally Dynevor, Love Island’s Liberty Poole, and Happy Mondays band member Bez.
Dancing On Ice continues Sunday at 6pm on ITV. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.