TV

Strictly chaos as four stars fall victim to ‘Halloween curse’

There's been a series of unfortunate events behind the scenes this week

It’s pretty fair to say it’s not been the best of weeks for Strictly Come Dancing’s remaining couples.

We’ve had poor Simon Rimmer forced to delay training because of a painful thigh injury, while AJ Pritchard has reportedly been battling a nasty bug.

And now it’s emerged Susan Calman is also feeling under the weather, while Aljaz Skorjanec has injured himself in rehearsals.

When will it end?!

Read more: Strictly star gets BITTEN on the head during training 

Perhaps it’s no wonder a show insider has now deemed the series of unfortunate events a “Halloween curse”.

A source told The Sun: “It’s been a hell of a week.

“It’s as though half have been hit by a Halloween curse.”

TV chef Simon’s bad luck began last weekend, when he fell over during his Sunday night dance-off with partner Karen Clifton.

While they survived to dance another week, he was left with a nasty thigh injury that required strapping up, with doctors ordering him to rest.

That meant he and Karen were two days behind everyone else by the time they started practising their routine for Halloween Week.

Karen said this week: “It’s really tough as these guys haven’t danced before and it’s pretty intense on your muscles.

“If something like that happens, it’s hard to recover from it, but hopefully he’ll be okay. Fingers crossed!”

AJ, meanwhile, was reportedly unable to rehearse with his partner Mollie King after coming down with a temperature and bug.

It meant Strictly bosses had to draft in a replacement to go through the moves with Mollie.

Over at Aljaz’s rehearsals with Gemma, it’s a similar story.

According to The Sun, the pro dancer damaged his neck in rehearsals so Strictly called in eliminated dancer Amy Dowden to help Gemma with the moves.

A source said: “It’s all about chemistry, and these setbacks make pulling it all together in time even more challenging.”

However, if it’s stressful behind-the-scenes, none of that strain is showing in public.

Simon’s been putting on a cheery face with fans, sharing photos of his strapped up thigh and saying rehearsals are going well.

AJ, meanwhile, tweeted overnight he couldn’t wait for Halloween Week.

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Likewise, Aljaz told fans he was up doing camera blocking early on Friday, suggesting he’s perfectly fine and ready for Saturday’s show.

And Susan’s also been tweeting away about rehearsals and Halloween Week, again suggesting she’s ready as well.

So perhaps this “Halloween Curse” isn’t that bad after all?


Nancy Brown
Associate Editor