Whitehead and Healey dive into Splash! semi-finals
Richard Whitehead MBE and Austin Healey dived head first into the Splash! semi-finals tonight, as the fourth set of celebrities competed on the ITV diving show.
The former rugby player and Paralympian were up against comedienne Jenny Eclair, TV presenter Pollyanna Woodward and Saturdays singer Una Foden in what was described as the "most competitive" episode of the ITV show to date.
The competitive edge came to the fore before the show, with television presenter Pollyanna left with a bloody nose while pushing herself in practice. And her luck didn't change on the day of the show either.
She told Vernon Kay: "My rehearsal dive didn't go too well and I ended up in A&E a few hours ago."
She explained she was told she could still dive if she wanted to and undeterred, she launched herself off the 7.5 metre board.
Paralympic gold medalist Richard Whitehead MBE performed the first ever handstand dive of Splash! to book his place in the next round.
Watch his dive again here:
Speaking after discovering he had made it through, the athlete said: "It is unbelievable - great support here today. As you can tell, the other contestants dived amazingly, nobody did badly today. I'm really proud to represent all of ParalympicsGB on the show."
Votes from the judges and the public put Richard straight through and sent Jenny Eclair and Pollyanna home before Una Foden and Austin Healey went head to head in the Splash! Off.
Following Austin and Una's second dive, the judges chose to save the former rugby player.
*Watch their dives again here: *
Putting Austin through to the semi-finals, judge and former diver Leon Taylor said: "In the Splash! off both of you upped your game and you both performed better than you did in the heat earlier. However, Austin's dive was much more complex and for that i'm going to put through Austin."