Jamie Laing backs Nicola Adams to bounce back from Strictly disappointment

Strictly Come Dancing star Jamie Laing has backed boxer Nicola Adams to come back stronger after she was forced to quit the show.

Adams dropped out after her professional partner, Katya Jones, tested positive for Covid-19. They had made history this series as Strictly’s first same-sex pairing.

Reality TV regular Laing can empathise with Olympian Adams, since he dropped out of last year’s show due to injury.

He is tipping Adams to overcome the disappointment.

Laing said: “She’s a boxer, she’s going to come out of this fighting, without a doubt. She’s a very positive person and I think it’s about being positive and realising how lucky you are to be even picked at the beginning.”

Laing, best known for appearing on Made In Chelsea, said despite the tight safety protocols around this year’s Strictly, the threat posed by the virus cannot be completely eliminated.

“I think always with this whole thing, you never really know where it is. So we’re always being careful and taking precautions and just being sensible,” he said.

“And I think it’s just unfortunate, sometimes it’s just unlucky. You don’t know where everyone in the world has been, you don’t know anything. We’re being as safe as possible.

“And just unfortunately for the guys it was them. And that’s what sucks. You can’t control it, you can’t do anything about it, and we just push on.”

Laing’s professional partner, Karen Hauer, said she would welcome Adams back next year.

She said: “It would be great. Jamie came back this year, so why not? Everyone gets a second chance.”