Will Bayley has claimed there was "no duty of care" when he injured himself on 'Strictly Come Dancing'.
Will Bayley has claimed that Strictly left him with a lifelong injury
The 36-year-old Paralympian - who was born with arthrogryposis which affects all four of his limbs - competed on the 2019 edition of the BBC Latin and ballroom show but had to pull out when he injured his ankle after trying to perfect a risky move in rehearsals and claimed that the incident has left a lasting impact.
He told The Sun newspaper: "Now feels like the right time to speak up. I hope what I went through never happens to anyone else.
"I think the show thought they were being inclusive by casting me, but I actually felt pressured.
“I have got a serious disability and I don’t think anyone was really looking out for me when I injured myself, leaving me with injuries that still affect me to this day.
"No one has ever contacted me from the BBC or said sorry.
“There was no duty of care — I should have been taken to hospital as soon as I had the accident, but all they cared about was trying to get me to dance.”
Will - who was paired with Janette Manrara during his time on the show - recalled having to jump off a table as part of a routine but claimed that his partner had branded him as "rubbish" and pushed himself to do the stunt as a result even though it left him in the "most horrific pain" he has ever experienced.
He said: " There was a table for me to jump off was brought out and I said, ‘I’m not sure I can land safely’.
“Everyone assured me I would be fine. I didn’t want to do the jump, and my coach said before, ‘He can’t do jumps’.
“We practiced a few times and I was really careful. But then Janette said my jump was ‘rubbish’ and I needed to smile more and go for it and show a bit of passion.
“I was really determined, so I went for it and smiled at the camera. When I landed I just had the most horrific pain. I still have flashbacks now.
“I was lying on the floor thinking my whole career was over. I heard my leg crack, I couldn’t breathe."
Will recalled his knee "popping out of its socket" as he landed but is sure that BBC bosses "didn't want" him to undergo treatment at the hospital so they could ensure he would still perform on the show as he admitted that he lives with the repercussions every day.
He added: ""I felt like 'Strictly' didn’t want me to go to hospital at the time. They knew then I definitely wouldn’t be able to dance.
“I had straps on my knees that were trying to hold it in place to see if I could try to dance, but my knee was falling out of the socket.
“They even asked me to try to do some moves. I did one step of dance. I didn’t go to hospital until two days later, where they finally scanned my leg and told me I needed to pull out.
"I’ll never get over that injury — you have it for life. I’ve already got a limiting disability but this on top of it. I wake up in the morning and it hurts."
The news follows the confirmation fellow professional dancers Giovanni Pernice and Graziano Di Prima will not be returning to the programme amid allegations about his treatment of his celebrity dance partners