DAN Walker says he has been suffering from pain in his hamstrings because of gruelling training for Strictly Come Dancing.

The Crawley-born BBC Breakfast presenter and his professional partner Nadiya Bychkova will perform a paso doble to Calvin Harris and Rag'n'Bone Man’s track Giants.

In a tweet Dan said he had been waking up in the night with cramp.

He wrote: “I woke up at 3am with cramp in both hamstrings. I am also experiencing permanent rump ache from the ‘paso push’.

“Double cramp attack!!!”

Dan currently sits in sixth place on the leader board after receiving a score of 24 out of a possible 40.

His performance earned a standing ovation from head judge Shirley Ballas who praised Dan for his posture.

She said: “You have very, very long arms and a very, very long legs – so from point to point the width, the volume and the potential is unbelievable.

“Great power and yes, you did make one or two little mistakes, but you picked them up and you carried on. You made it work and that’s professionalism.”

No celebrities left the show during last Saturday’s episode.

Instead, the judges’ scores will be carried over to next week when viewers will have the chance to vote for their favourite of the 15 couples.

Television presenter AJ Odudu impressed the judges and topped the leaderboard alongside her partner Kai Widdrington.

She was awarded with a score of 34 for her jive to Gold Dust by DJ Fresh.

Judge Motsi Mabuse hailed her routine “the best dance of the evening, without a doubt”.

The second live show will see the stars take to the dancefloor for a second time but McFly singer Tom Fletcher and partner Amy Dowden will be absent after testing positive for Covid-19.

Rugby star Ugo Monye and Oti Mabuse will also be tackling a quickstep, to The Jive Aces’ Bring Me Sunshine, while comedian Robert Webb and Dianne Buswell will tango to La Cumparsita by Machiko Ozawa and Great British Bake Off star John Whaite will do a cha cha to Starstruck by Years & Years with his partner Johannes Radebe.

Have you got a story for us? Email news@theargus.co.uk or contact us here.

Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

Sign up to our newsletter to get updates sent straight to your inbox.

You can also call us on 01273 021 400.