Tameka Empson is furious with the ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ producers for not telling the audience or the judges about her crippling back injury ahead of the dance off.
The ‘EastEnders’ star was left devastated two weeks ago when she was given the boot from the ballroom and latin show when she lost out to Laura Whitmore in the head-to-head but she feels she was hard done by because the pain she was in wasn’t taken into consideration when the panellists chose who they wanted to take through to the next round of the competition.
She said: "I don’t know why they didn’t mention it because everyone knew that I was injured. The show knew – I didn’t hide my injury and I had a lot of physio."
The 39-year-old actress insists she’s not trying to use the injury as an excuse and simply doesn’t understand why the judges didn’t think her dance with professional partner Gorka Marquez was "good" enough.
She told heat magazine: "I didn’t want to play the injury card because I just wanted to go out there and perform. And I thought I gave a good performance."
Tameka previously said she is disappointed she didn’t last longer in the competition for the sake of Gorka.
She said: "I had a bit of pain in my back but I used that pain to drive through …
"I know I’m not what you call a dancer, a dancer type, but I did put the work in. I didn’t want it to be so short for Gorka."
However, the soap beauty insists she loved the experience and all the people she worked with on the popular celebrity contest.
She said: "They are a great group of people. The talent was tough this year, but think it was a great year for me to do it. I’m going to keep dancing. I love it. I love the whole process."