Strictly Come Dancing's AJ Odudu ‘frustrated and upset’ about injury ahead of final
Strictly Come Dancing star AJ Odudu has said she is “frustrated and upset” at being injured ahead of Saturday’s final but vowed she is “doing everything” to make sure she can dance. The TV presenter, 33, is due to take to the dancefloor in the grand finale of the BBC One show with her professional dance partner Kai Widdrington. But she has been unable to rehearse since Monday after injuring the ligament in the arch of her right foot and has also had to use crutches.
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Speaking at a press conference hosted by It Takes Two presenter Rylan Clark, she appeared with her right foot lifted and strapped with bandages. Odudu explained: “Basically, long story short, I’ve hurt the ligament in my arch, and I can’t put any weight on my foot at all.
"So we have missed a lot of training, because I can’t stand up, I’m on crutches and I’m doing everything I can to try and be there on Saturday night.” Seated alongside her, Widdrington, who made his debut as a professional dancer on Strictly this year, said the pair had rehearsed their show dance on Monday. During the finale, each of the final three couples – Odudu and Widdrington, former Bake Off winner John Whaite and Johannes Radebe, and Rose Ayling-Ellis and Giovanni Pernice – will perform three routines, among them the much-awaited show dance. Widdrington, who previously competed on Ireland’s Dancing With The Stars, said: “We rehearsed (on) Monday, we did the show dance, we got through it.
"Obviously we still need to patch it up a little bit and connect everything, there’s a lot of lifts in there. But the other dances that we’re going to do we did and put the music on and AJ knows them.”
The couple scored their first perfect 40 during Saturday’s semi-final for one of their two routines – a quickstep – which judge Craig Revel Horwood said was “incredible”. Their other semi-final routine, a rumba, earned them a score of 39. The final three celebrities will take to the dancefloor in the Strictly Come Dancing Final 2021 on December 18 at 7pm on BBC One.