Strictly star Amber Davies' chaotic 24 hours after BBC bosses' rush to replace Dani Dyer

Love Island icon Amber Davies has said the past 24 hours are ones she 'won't be forgetting in a hurry' after she was named as Dani Dyer's replacement on Strictly Come Dancing.

The 28-year-old won the third ITV2 dating series with ex Kem Cetinay, 29, back in 2017. Since then she's pursued a career in acting and musical theatre landing huge roles in productions of Pretty Woman, 9 to 5: The Musical, The Great Gatsby and more recently as lead character Elle Woods in the UK tour of Legally Blonde.

But now she is set for even more work - and potentially winning another reality show - after being paired with Dani's partner Nikita Kuzmin on the BBC soap.

Ahead of making her Strictly debut on Saturday night's show, Amber shared: "This has been the craziest 24 hours of my life. I've watched Strictly with my family since I was younger and to now be part of the show is a dream come true. I'm going to give it my all and I am sending Dani well wishes for a speedy recovery. I hope I do her proud."

READ MORE: Inside Dani Dyer's Strictly exit from replacement to injury that ended her dream

But the blow is devastating for fellow Love Island winner Dani, who was one of this year's Strictly favourites.

Sadly the 29-year-old mum-of-three, who is the daughter of acting legend Danny Dyer and recently tied the knot with West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen, was forced to quit the competition after sustaining an ankle injury during rehearsals.

Seemingly holding back tears, she said a social media video on Tuesday evening: "Hi guys, I’m going to do this, and try and do this without crying, but yeah, I’m so heartbroken, like I’ve not felt like this in such a long time.

"I was having the best time ever… It’s just (a) very, very annoying, devastating thing that I’m kind of going through right now.

"But I’m probably just going to have a few days off my socials just to, you know, process things. I just want to thank you all so much for all your love and support. But yeah, I’m gutted, I'm absolutely gutted."

She went on to say that everyone at Strictly "is absolutely amazing" and "I’m going to miss them all so much", before adding: "I will eventually obviously come along and cheer them all on."

Explaining what happened, Dani said: "I had a fall on Friday in rehearsals and landed funny. I thought I had rolled my foot but it swelled up badly over the weekend and after an MRI scan yesterday, it turns out I have fractured my ankle.

"Apparently doing the quickstep on a fracture is not advisable, and the doctors have said I am not allowed to dance, so I’ve had to pull out of the show.

"To say I’m heartbroken is the biggest understatement. I am so going to miss dancing with Nikita, but will of course be watching closely and cheering all the couples on."

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