Janette Manrara, 35, branded Will Bayley, 31, a “champion” in an Instagram video after his dancing shoes made his foot bleed. The Strictly Come Dancing 2019 professional appeared shocked by the injury after her partner admitted he was in pain during their training session for the BBC show yesterday. She explained to her 258,000 followers: “I know I should be more of a supportive partner, but Will just said that his feet hurt and I said, ‘Do you want to take your shoes off for five minutes?’ and this is what it’s like.” The star then panned the camera around to show the Paralympic table tennis player’s white sock soaked in blood.
“Will, you’re bleeding through your socks,” she exclaimed, as the athlete replied: “I’m a real dancer now.”
Janette continued: “Oh my god, bless you! I’m so sorry!”
Fortunately, Will was quick to make light of the situation as he joked: “This is what Janette’s done to me guys!”
The American dancer and choreographer seemed impressed by the sportsman’s determination to continue dancing in spite of his injury.
“You champion, you just carried through, you’re actually bleeding through your sock!
“Oh my God, we’re going to find out what’s going on, well done Will,” she added.
Janette gave fans another update on Will’s foot in the caption of the video and reassured fans the situation was “nothing serious”.
She wrote: “Wow!! What a hard worker! Cannot believe he was pushing through w/ this!
“Nothing serious everyone! Just a small scratch from his nail rubbing against his toe, but it did bleed!”(sic)
The Strictly favourite continued: “He only noticed when I suggested he could give his feet a break from his shoes! I cannot say enough how impressive this man’s attitude is.
“Feeling so inspired by him everyday! What a champ! Love ya @willbayleytt & thank you for working so hard! We’ve got this champ!!”
Will echoed Janette’s sentiment in the comments section of her post, writing back: “Love ya champ! We got this.”
Fans joined Will in replying to Janette’s post, with one person responding: “No pain no gain.”
“Been there, done that! Ouch. Part of the dance experience getting dancers feet. Hoping everything going well except sore feet. You are both going to be amazing,” another added.
A third fan agreed, commenting: “Ouchie… See, dance is bad for you!!”(sic)
Janette and Will were paired up for the dance competition during the launch show last weekend.
The ballroom and Latin dancer shared her excitement about the announcement in an Instagram post soon after the programme aired, writing: “I cannot wait @willbayleytt!!! Bring on 2019!! We’ve got this Champ!! Team name coming soon!! Cannot wait!”
The Strictly Come Dancing 2019 live shows kick off Saturday September 21 on BBC One.