Strictly’s Delta Goodrem shares new health update after ‘injury she’s never encountered before’

Strictly Come Dancing favourite Delta Goodrem has shared a health update after a devastating injury presented unforeseen challenges.

The Australian actress and musician, 41, has been flying high on the Strictly leaderboard with pro partner Kai Widdrington, 31, having wowed with a dazzling salsa and an emotional American smooth.

But disaster struck and threatened to end their Strictly experience entirely when a ‘gutted’ Delta suffered a rib injury, forcing her out of Icons Week with no option other than to watch tearfully from home, fighting the urge to return to ‘full force’ immediately.

Thankfully, after following doctors’ advice and resting up, the Eurovision 2026 competitor returned to the dance floor with a stunning Celine Dion rumba, scoring the first 10 of the season.

Speaking to Metro and other press ahead of their eagerly awaited comeback, Delta and Kai lifted the lid on her injury and the range of emotions it brought.

‘We had such an incredible time when we got to do the salsa, and we were just so thrilled. There was such a fantastic energy on the night. We were stoked, ending on the top of the leaderboard,’ Delta began.

‘I had noticed that I’d had some pain, and it just started to really go downhill.’

She joked that ‘at the end of the night, the rib decided it had had enough’ but can’t pinpoint the cause of the injury, as it was likely ‘a combination’ of lifts and tricks.

‘I jumped into this incredible experience with everything I’ve got, like I do in life, and we’ve been trying a lot of different things.

‘It was a shock to go from being so happy to experiencing that surprise challenge we had to deal with.’

On the moment she realised she had to press pause on all things Strictly, she added: ‘We had to take it day by day, and I knew when we went to the hospital, and we saw what we were working with, that it wasn’t gonna happen last week.

‘It just meant we had to work really hard with a team to gently step back onto the dance floor.’

The former Neighbours star admitted the rib saga presented a ‘new injury [she’s] never encountered before’, which has involved a lot of ‘learning’ on how to take care of her body and, as Kai says, return to operating at ‘100%’.

‘Having been performing my whole life, I understand I will have to find those ways of helping my body to get back up moving, and I am a fighter; I have a fighting spirit, so I will continue on this wonderful journey.’

With Delta vowing to ‘give everything [they’ve] got’ and ‘do the best job’ moving forward, Kai confessed that he’s conscious of ‘minimising the stress’ on Delta physically.

‘We’re obviously mindful of [the injury]. We’re not gonna go out there and do some crazy lifts and backbends that are gonna put strain on her. We’re taking it step by step.’

The choreographer is no stranger to a setback in his journey to the Strictly Glitter Ball, with an injured TV presenter AJ Odudu devastatingly forced out of the grand final in 2021.

‘It’s up to me to put together some good choreography that means we can still shine and still have a moment – because I would be doing Delta an injustice if it wasn’t a moment every time we stepped on the dance floor – but while keeping in mind that we’re nursing her back to 100%.’

And while the energetic Charleston is likely to be a few weeks off, should the pair secure enough viewer votes to proceed in the competition, there is still hope for that lost Icons routine.

Denying that the couple has spoken to Strictly bosses to rejig their schedule and incorporate slower-paced dances to play it safe for the time being, he shared: ‘When you do the show, regardless of how far you go, you never do all of the dances anyway; it just so happened we were doing [a rumba] this week.

‘Next week it’s Halloween, which is gonna be a bit more fun, and then we go on from there.

‘Maybe we’ll go back and revisit a dance we had planned for last week,’ he teased. ‘Nothing has changed. It’s just the way the chips have fallen.’

‘My heart is here in Strictly, and I’ve come a long way from Australia to be here,’ Delta added. ‘I love being a part of the show, and I am loving learning to dance every single day.

‘We are a great team, and we’ll go as far as we can take this.’

Strictly Come Dancing airs Saturdays and Sundays on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

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