Strictly Come Dancing: Ugo Monye to miss this week’s show due to injury

Monye and his professional partner, Oti Mabuse, will be absent from this week’s live show

Strictly Come Dancing star, Ugo Monye, has confirmed that he will miss this Saturday’s (16 October) episode after picking up an injury.

The former rugby player revealed the news on Twitter on Thursday (14 October) and said that he had a history of suffering from back problems.

“Unfortunately I’m not going to be able to dance this weekend on the show,” Monye wrote.

“I have a history of back problems which has always been managed under the guidance of medical professionals. Unfortunately this has been causing me some unwanted problems this week!”

He went on to wish the rest of the contestants look in this week’s competition: “Gutted Oti and I won’t be dancing this weekend but wishing all the other contestants the best of luck and will be cheering them on from home!”

The news comes a day after actor and comedian Robert Webb announced he was withdrawing from the competition because of ill health relating to his heart.

Monye is not the first contestant to miss an episode either. Earlier in the series, McFly lead singer, Tom Fletcher, missed a week after he and partner Amy Dowden caught Covid-19.

Like Fletcher, it is expected that Monye will be given a bye into the next round.

Monye’s professional partner on the show is Oti Mabuse, who only posted on Instagram on Wednesday (13 October) night about how hard the pair were working.

She called the A Question of Sport team captain and TV pundit a “star” as they were going for a “late night push” in practice.

With Monye and Mabuse sitting this week out, that leaves 11 couples to compete on this week’s episode.

Strictly Come Dancing continues Saturday 16 October at 7pm on BBC One.