Dani Dyer’s Strictly return: What happened to the star last year?

Before withdrawing from the show in 2025, the Love Island winner was partnered with professional Nikita Kuzmin, who was subsequently paired with another Love Island winner, Amber Davies.“To say I'm heartbroken is the biggest understatement,” she said in a statement last September.Dani revealed that when she was first told the news, she initially dismissed medics’ concerns and ‘wanted to risk’ itGettyThe 30-year-old had been rehearsing ahead of the first live show when she fell during a rehearsal. Whilst she had initially thought that she rolled her ankle, it turned out that she fractured it.“Apparently doing the quickstep on a fracture is not advisable,” she said, explaining that she was advised by doctors to pull out from the competition.Speaking on the Live and Let Dyers podcast with her father Danny, a month after she left the competition, the reality TV star said partner Nikita was shellshocked when they were told she would have to leave on medical grounds.Cast of Strictly Come Dancing 2025PA Media“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,” she said.She revealed that when she was first told the news, she initially dismissed medics’ concerns and “wanted to risk” it.“I was so sad. I just knew straight away. I heard a noise, and the physio was like 'did you hear a noise?' and I said, 'no I didn't hear a noise!',” she told GK Barry on the Saving Grace podcast in April.Dani opened up on the ‘heartbreak’ during a candid conversation with her fatherGettyOpening up about how she coped following the news, she said she needed time to grieve the experience she had lost.“I was so devastated it made it really hard for me, because everyone around me was like pure devastation and that's why I couldn't leave the house because I knew if someone said to me 'Are you okay Dani?' I would just cry.”She had expressed her desires to join the show again, and thankfully she didn’t have to wait too long, as in June, she was announced to be joining the upcoming series of the hit BBC dancing show.“I am so excited to be back in the ballroom this September,” she said.“I just cannot wait to get my dancing shoes back on and hopefully this time around I can actually make it to week one! I’m just over the moon and cannot wait to find out who else is doing it!”