Denise Van Outen manages 'Dancing On Ice' debut despite dislocated shoulder

Denise Van Outen has managed to make it to her first Dancing On Ice show after a horrific fall that almost put her out of the competition.

The actor and performer looked cautious on the ice with a bandage visible on her shoulder, and partner Matt Evers said that the routine had been adapted to accommodate her injury.

Van Outen took a fall face first in training on Thursday and landed heavily on her shoulder, with a trip to A&E confirming that it was dislocated.

Whether or not she could continue in the show hung in the balance, but Van Outen made it onto the ice - although her score of 19.5 reflected how tough the performance was for her.

Talking after her routine, she said: “It’s really sore, but because of the adrenaline I can’t feel it.

“I’ve got to be honest, I’m more concerned that I haven’t shaved my armpits for four days, so if you could see some spiders’ legs, that wasn’t fringing.”

The judges told her she needed to increase her confidence to pick up higher scores in future.

Christopher Dean told her: “Nobody said it would be easy, but they didn’t say it would be this hard.”

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He added: “I could see it was tentative tonight.”

John Barrowman agreed: “I could see the nerves, the pain, and the tentativeness.”

Although Van Outen’s routine was slow, she managed to stay upright for the whole skate while Emmerdale actor Joe-Warren Plant became the first contestant this series to fall on the ice when he took to the rink in the second performance of the night.

However, he laughed it off as he said: “I thought I was doing everything perfectly and then I don’t know what happened.”

Injured pro skater Yebin Mok, whose partner Graham Bell managed to stab her in the leg with his skate, also made an appearance in the studio.

She will be temporarily replaced while she recovers from surgery, but said that she was hoping to get back to the series soon.

Mok said: “I’m feeling a lot better and it’s healing up really well.”

Rapper Lady Leshurr’s knee injury from training also featured in the episode, although she had managed to make a good recovery and put in an impressive first performance.

Watch: Dancing On Ice skater injured in freak accident