DOI's Greg Rutherford 'devastated' as he breaks silence on 'nightmare' show exit (2024)

Dancing On Ice's Greg Rutherford took to Instagram to issue an update after he was sadly forced to pull out of Sunday's final after sustaining a "significant injury" during rehearsals

Dancing On Ice's Greg Rutherford has broken his silence after he was sadly forced to pull out of Sunday's final just hours before the live show.

The sports star, 37, was due to perform with professional skating partner Vanessa James in a bid to be crowned the 2024 champion, competing against Ryan Thomas, Adele Roberts and Miles Nazaire. However, just hours before the final on Sunday, Greg's professional skating partner Vanessa, 36, posted a photo on Instagram, announcing they were on the way to the hospital after Greg was injured during rehearsals.

Vanessa penned: "Unfortunately Greg has sustained a significant injury this morning at rehearsals and won’t be able to perform tonight. We are on our way to the hospital for Greg to get examined further and receive the treatment he needs."

Taking to Instagram after the news, Greg reshared Vanessa's post to his Story with a crying emoji. The Olympian then posted a video of himself receiving medical attention, where he said: "Hello, I know this looks very dramatic and everything else. Sadly, I picked up a big injury in rehearsals and I'm on my way to hospital.

"So I will not be performing on Dancing On Ice tonight. I am devastated but these things happen. So stay tuned, we'll keep you updated, what a nightmare way for this to finish." Greg later reposted his partner Susie's post, which said: "Not quite how @gregjrutherford anticipated spending today. Thank you for all your kind messages" with Greg adding: "It's been a really s**t day" with a sad emoji.

It comes as Dancing On Ice also posted an announcement, writing: "Sadly Olympian Greg Rutherford MBE has had to withdraw from Dancing On Ice after sustaining an injury whilst in rehearsals for the final episode of the current series. Greg and Vanessa have been such a popular couple this series and have performed some truly memorable routines. We will be helping to support Greg and wish him well with his recovery. We also want to thank him for being such a treasured member of the Dancing on Ice family. #DancingOnIce."

Commenting on the Instagram post, Greg's fellow finalist Miles said: "Not the same without you brother! Time to recover love you." Coronation Street's Claire Sweeney, who was voted off the show earlier in the series, said she was sending the pair her love.

On Saturday, Greg posted to his Instagram story to say Sunday’s performance would be "massive". He wrote: "Tomorrow is a massive day. Months of work. Blood, sweat and tears have gone into every performance, I have a friend for life in Vanessa James and can’t wait for you to see the showcase. It’s special."

It comes as Greg opened up to the Mirror, and other press, about his journey on the show so far ahead of the final last week. Greg admitted during the chat that he thought his time in the competition may have been over after sustaining a painful groin injury earlier on the show.

The sports star said at the time: "There's certainly been a few moments where I've thought: 'This probably isn't going to happen.' The worst one in particular being when the groin tore, which will be four weeks on Saturday. When that happened, I thought that was me done to be honest. The pain, especially where it is, is just... in ice skating, you have to turn constantly, your hips are oscillating the whole time, so when you can't do that, you're thinking: 'That's me finished!'

"I was gutted at first, that's classic me, an injury right at the wrong time. But due to Sharon, the physio who works for the show, has done a tireless job to keep me going and doing well. We are currently in a situation where, yes, it is still healing and there's a little bit of soreness and tightness. But I am able to do what we need to do. Thankfully I am here and I'm thrilled to be here as well.

"The last hurdle is trying to do the Bolero but it's one of those things I'm so happy to have made the final. I've managed to go through the whole show and last week, got voted the best skater out of our solo skate. That was a really proud moment for me. All in all, thrilled to bits, I'm ignoring the fact there's still a little bit of an injury there but that's fine. I'm hoping the showcase, everyone loves it, and we get to do the Bolero. Then, who knows at that point, who knows!"

Dancing On Ice the final airs this Sunday at 6:25pm on ITV and ITV X. *Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Threads.