Amanda Abbington, a Strictly Come Dancing participant, has confessed she has gotten ill only weeks before the BBC show’s premiere.
On Thursday (August 24), the 51-year-old Sherlock actor revealed on her Instagram Story that she was suffering from a ‘very severe’ episode of food illness.
With Strictly set to premiere on September 23, she asked her fans for help: ‘Any advice on how to feel back to normal GREATLY appreciated.’
It comes after her Strictly opponent Adam Thomas, 35, revealed he had rheumatoid arthritis prior to joining the competition.
Adam said on Instagram that he had been in ‘a lot of agony’ since January before testing discovered he had the disease.
The NHS describes it as a ‘long-term condition that causes pain, swelling and stiffness in the joints’ with the main affected areas being the hands, feet and wrists.
However, he feels that everything occurs for a purpose and that Strictly could not have arrived at a better moment.
The Waterloo Road star wrote: ‘The reason I signed up to Strictly is because I just want to be able to move again, get fit and do it, all with a smile on my face!
‘It really couldn’t have come at a better time I’m a firm believer of everything happening for a reason, and I know the journey I’ve been on was meant to happen, to never take small things in life for granted! …Like going for a run, playing with my kids and just being able to walk with no pain!
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‘I know it’s going to be tough and I’ve definitely got my work cut out but am up for the challenge and can not wait to get on that dance floor!!’
Meanwhile, Amanda has lately been the target of a social media firestorm following remarks she made in March regarding a toddler performing a drag act.
Denying she was transphobic, she said: ‘I’m sorry if you feel like you need to boycott Strictly for a tweet I made about a drag show but I don’t think 12-year-olds should be doing overly sexualised drag acts.
‘That’s my personal opinion, that’s all. I’m not pushing it on anyone else, I’m just saying that’s how I feel.
‘I didn’t associate (the tweet) with the trans community nor would I. I’m an ally of the LGBT community and I’m an ally of women’s rights and I’m an ally of kids being kids, and I’m an ally of live and let live.”
Amanda also said that she’ loves drag queens’ and thinks the performance art is an ‘amazing form of entertainment which is ‘brilliant and hilarious.’
In addition to journalist Angela Rippon, Channel 4 News presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy, presenter Angela Scanlon, Bad Education actor Layton Williams, and comedian Eddie Kadi, the cast for this year’s celebrity dance competition has been confirmed.
In 2022, British wildlife broadcaster Hamza Yassin and professional dancer Jowita Przystal won the glitterball prize.
Strictly returns to BBC One and iPlayer later this year.
