Strictly Come Dancing's Katie Piper: 'My injuries won't hold me back'
The presenter and charity campaigner says the burns she suffered during an acid attack won't stop her giving her all
Strictly Come Dancing 2018 contestant Katie Piper says having burns and being blind in one eye won't prevent her putting her best foot forward when she makes her dance floor debut.
The presenter and charity campaigner still bears the scars of an acid attack in 2008, but she doesn't believe that they'll stand in her way in the competition.
“I mean I’ve got some injuries that might make it a little more difficult but I don’t think it’d hold me back", Piper tells Radio Times in the Strictly special edition. "I’ve lived with extensive injuries for ten years."
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Piper says she won't be asking professional partner Gorka Marquez to make any changes when it comes to choreography.
"Obviously I’m blind in my left eye, I can’t see anything on that side at all, but I’ve been like that for ten years, so I’ve actually forgotten what it’s like to see from all sides," Piper explains.
"I think you just adapt and in a way, it actually motivates me more so it actually works in the opposite way. Some of the other contestants are slightly older and they get tired quicker, some have bad backs, I think we could all find reasons to not do things but they don’t have to stop us.”
Piper, who's currently training for a half marathon too, is fiercely determined to make the most of her Strictly experience and would ideally love to make it to Blackpool Week.
"It would be amazing to think that I could dance at Blackpool – let’s stay optimistic," she says.
Meet the stars of Strictly Come Dancing 2018 in the Radio Times Strictly special edition, on sale from Tuesday 18th September
