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Dani Dyer, a contestant on this year's Strictly Come Dancing, made a surprise return to the BBC show after suffering a 'devastating' injury last month. The Love Island winner was one of three participants forced to pull out from the annual dance extravaganza, with Neighbours star Stefan Dennis being the latest casualty due to a calf tear. Just days following the unveiling of the 23rd series line-up, Game of Thrones actor Kristian Nairn withdrew citing 'a high level of stress and a little bit of grief', leading to Emmerdale's Lewis Cope stepping in as an eleventh-hour replacement. Dani graced the pre-recorded launch show in September, where it was revealed she'd be dancing with fan favourite professional Nikita Kuzmin. However, just days before the first live show of the year, it was confirmed that Dani had to bow out of the competition due to an ankle fracture sustained during training, according to the Manchester Evening News, reports Wales Online . Dani was promptly replaced by fellow Love Island champ Amber Davies, who has since become one of the highest scoring acts of the series. As the battle for the Glitterball Trophy heats up, the remaining 11 celebrities took part in icons week on Saturday night (October 25). Each star channelled a famous personality, with Balvinder Sopal embodying Beyonce, George Clarke morphing into Harry Styles, and Lewis paying tribute to Johnny Cash. Dani confirmed her attendance for the live show on her Instagram story just hours before it aired. The reality star shared a selfie with the caption ' Strictly ready', accompanied by two white love heart emojis. Dressed in a black off-the-shoulder gown, Dani's hair was styled in glamorous waves and she wore pale pink lipstick to complete her look. She was spotted in the live audience alongside Stefan, watching the remaining contestants take to the dance floor. After it was confirmed that she couldn't participate in Strictly due to an ankle injury, Dani reassured her father Danny Dyer on their podcast Live And Let Dyers that she believed she would be 'going to be fine'. She explained: "I heard a noise and thought it was going to be fine. Obviously, I came home at the weekend and iced it. When they sent me for the MRI, it came back that there was a hairline fracture on my ankle and my ligaments. "They said 'if you have a grade 1 sprain, we can work with a grade 1 sprain'. One of my ankles had a grade 2 sprain and the other had a grade 1. We went and got a second opinion and I was like 'physically what can we do, there's got to be something'.. "The doctor said 'if you continue dancing it's not going to heal and get worse and we're going to have to medically withdraw you. Those first two weeks you can't wear any heels'. They'd have to change my dance completely," she revealed. Dani was left crushed when she got a call from the programme's Welfare team delivering devastating news, just as she was 'ready to go to training'. "Welfare rang me and said 'Dani, I'm really sorry, you can't compete, you have a fracture'... Nikita didn't speak for two minutes, he was in complete shock. We were all devastated about it. It made it really hard for me because it was pure devastation. "I couldn't leave the house because if someone went 'are you okay Dani' I would have cried," she admitted. Strictly Come Dancing is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
