Nicola Adams has said it was “really tough” to be forced out of Strictly Come Dancing and into self-isolation by coronavirus.
The Olympic boxer had to quit the competition after her professional partner Katya Jones tested positive for Covid-19.
Adams told BBC Two’s It Takes Two: “It’s been really tough.”
She added: “It was horrible, I just felt sorry for Katya because I knew she was going to blame herself and it’s one of those things.
“I didn’t want her to blame herself because it wasn’t her fault and I never saw it that way.”
Presenter Rylan Clark-Neal confirmed the pair would return to the programme to perform in the final, although they will not be competing for the glitterball trophy.
The pair were the first same-sex couple to compete in the BBC One celebrity dancing competition.
Jones told It Takes Two she did not feel ill after testing positive and she did not develop symptoms.
She said she had tears “streaming down” her face after she knew she had contracted the virus.
“I just kept asking – ‘Can Nicola carry on?’ – because obviously that’s all I wanted for her,” Jones added.
The pair, whose Strictly performances included a routine inspired by the film Grease, self-isolated separately after Jones’s positive test.
Strictly Come Dancing continues on BBC One.