Strictly Come Dancing: Tony Adams addresses early exit from reality series

Footballer’s wife, Poppy, also quashed rumours of a row between Adams and his professional partner

Tony Adams has addressed his exit from Strictly Come Dancing.

The former Arsenal football player and his professional partner Katya Jones became the seventh couple to leave the BBC reality competition after he made the decision to withdraw due to a hamstring injury.

The pair performed a jive on Saturday night (12 November), which landed them in the bottom two.

They were set to face Tyler West and Diane Buswell, but the Dance Off did not go ahead with presenter Tess Daley explaining that Adams had decided to withdraw “due to an injury sustained on Saturday night”.

Speaking alongside Jones on the Strictly spin off show It Takes Two, Adams said: "It’s been getting tough the past couple of weeks.

“I had a bit of a hammy last week, went out and danced, then on Thursday pointing my toe down, bit of retraction, that’s not done in football, you know, point your toe. I kind of went, ‘Ah!’ so we didn’t do anything [on] Friday.”

Adams’s wife Poppy has since also spoken out on his exit, telling MailOnline that “he has gone much further on the show than he had hoped and it was time to leave”.

“They (Tony and Katya) are both punchy people and give as good as they get. He adored her and there was never a row as people have said - he has left because his body can’t take any more.”

Tony Adams and Katya Jones on ‘Strictly' (BBC)

Adams and Jones’s departure from the series means that Tyler West and Dianne Buswell went straight through to the next round.

Strictly continues on Saturday (19 November) on BBC One at 7.45pm.