Ore Oduba injured himself bowling ahead of Strictly debut

He told Alex Jones and Matt Baker all about his woes on The One Show yesterday, saying that when his dance partner Joanne Clifton came up to Manchester for a night out at the bowling alley, he “incorporated some of our dance steps into the bowling routine".

Alas, don’t get too excited. There is no video footage of the performance.

While he was dancing, the ten-pin bowling ball slammed into the back of his ankle. Ouch.

The BBC Breakfast presenter said that the injury meant he has missed some Strictly rehearsals, which is far from ideal considering the contestants are being “flung into the deep end” with a group jive in the first show.

He added that Clifton, who is one of the most highly decorated dancers in the Strictly family, is “very militant” and that he’s found the training pretty knackering. Laura Whitmore recently said she was exhausted by it too.

Oduba added that the Strictly stars were very supportive on their Whatsapp group. Talk about squad goals.

But the question remains, after his bowling injury, will Oduba’s debut on Strictly be a strike?

Strictly Come Dancing airs the first episode on Friday on BBC1 at 9pm