John Whaite pulls out of Strictly live tour as he tests positive for Covid
John Whaite has pulled out of today's performances of the Strictly Come Dancing live tour after testing positive for Covid. He is awaiting a PCR test to confirm his lateral flow
John Whaite has been forced to pull out of the Strictly Come Dancing live tour after testing positive for Covid.
The Great British Bake Off star - who finished runner up on the BBC One Latin and ballroom show in December with his pro partner Johannes Radebe - has tested positive for Covid with a lateral flow and has been forced to miss today's performances in Glasgow.
He is currently awaiting a PCR test to confirm the result, but if it is positive, he will be forced to miss a number of shows to isolate.
"I've got a little bit of bad news I'm afraid. A lateral flow this morning has come back positive so I now have to sit here in this glamorous captivity – lovely bedhead – until a result of a PCR comes back," he said as he updated fans on Instagram.
He added: "I'm hoping it comes back negative because I feel fine.
"I'm triple jabbed, I had coronavirus in the summer so, I'm hoping it's just a false positive. But that does mean that I won't be able to perform today or tonight in Glasgow so I am very, very, very, very sorry if anyone was hoping to see me shake my thing on the dance floor today because I just won't be there shaking it, I'll be in my hotel room – probably still shaking it."
Updating fans from the bed in his hotel room, John admitted he was devastated to let fans down.
"That isn't something I wish the world could see because it isn't pretty darling. When you're not in sparkles and sequins in it, it ain't pretty. The real me in it, ugh, vile," he then quipped.
"But anyway I'm sorry I can't be there, I hope you enjoy the show nonetheless and good luck to all my friends who are in the show today. I'm sorry I'm letting you all down."
John had previously opened up about being prepared for backlash over being partnered with another man on the show.
"I thought maybe I should dance with a straight man. Because I just thought the flak we would receive as two gay men would be just insurmountable because we've been conditioned to expect that - we were both bullied at school and trolling has never been as bad as it is now on the internet," he said recently.
"But we were pleased to say that the love we received far outweighed any trolling because we did receive some trolling... but we don't focus on that because the block button is a very powerful tool and once people are out of sight, they're out of mind."
