Brendan Cole thought he was dead after he fell 40ft from a ladder.

Brendan Cole

Brendan Cole

The 'Strictly Come Dancing' professional was convinced he'd diced with death when he plummeted to the ground with a chainsaw in his hand after he climbed up the metal steps to trim his bushy trees at his home in Majorca, Spain, recently.

Speaking to The Sun newspaper, he said: "I hit the floor with a thud and I checked I was still alive. I have hurt my leg. I am serious. I fell off a ladder. I was chopping a tree down with a chainsaw as it had caterpillars in.

"It was awkward. I came down with quite a thud. It did hurt. I was wounded for a while. It was my first time up a ladder. It was a brand new 13m ladder."

And the 41-year-old dancer hasn't had much luck recently as he was left devastated when he found out that he hadn't been chosen as Len Goodman's replacement on the show and, instead, the head judge role was handed to Shirley Ballas.

It was reported Brendan, who is married to model Zoe Hobbs, was screentested for the role alongside dancer Anton du Beke, 50, but bosses decided to go for Shirley.

He said: "I was hoping for myself but never mind.

"Poor Anton and poor me but the show must go on. Shirley was in a good position to get the job so she is going to make the show interesting. The BBC have the say and they have gone for Shirley. I had a screen test for the role and so did Anton. It was really nice to be involved in the process with the hope that it might be me but it wasn't."

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