Diversity star Jordan Banjo has revealed he’s suffered multiple nasty injuries thanks to his new career as he admitted the major toll it has taken on his body
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Jordan Banjo has revealed the extent of his injuries
Jordan Banjo has revealed his new sporting obsession has taken a major toll on his body already as he’s had two major surgeries. The Diversity dancer and TV star hasn’t been put off boxing despite ending up in hospital.
He has even challenged another Love Islander for a big fight as part of Misfits Boxing. Jordan shot to fame back in 2009 with his brother Ashely when they won that year’s Britain’s Got Talent competition as part of Diversity.
The dancer, 32, has since appeared on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here, Dancing on Ice and The Masked Singer, but is enjoying a totally different career path with boxing. However, it hasn’t all been going to plan as last year Jordan shared photos from a hospital bed.
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He took on the intense training for his first ever match but ended up with a nasty injury streak. Detailing the horror injuries, Jordan revealed he tore his bicep and said it was a “full rupture”.
The TV star needed surgery to “reattach it” as he added: “A complete tear, the kind that would put most people out of action for months.” It wasn’t his first brush with the medical room as he was left unable to move his finger following a previous injury.
Jordan told the Sun: “I’d done a ligament in my hand which had to be repaired so I couldn’t move my little finger… it just had to either move to be straight or move to be bent because the ligament had snapped.”
Despite his painful injury spell, Jordan managed to win his first fight in May as he went up against Love Island’s Wil Anderson. He is also not giving up as he’s been taking on strength and conditioning training.
In another blow, Jordan admitted he tore his pec but is “definitely planning to fight again”. Boxing isn’t to blame for all Jordan’s injuries, however, as his dancing career as forced him to need surgeries on his knees and ankle as well as “snapping” both his thumbs.
Injury prone Jordan suffered another hit over the summer as he revealed he had a mishap at a pool while on holiday with his family. He revealed he had finally learned to swim aged 32 but suffered a bash to the head just hours later.
Sharing the story with his fans back in August, he said: “I’m currently in Spain and great news I’ve learnt to swim at 32 years old (yes I finally did it). Feeling beyond confident I challenged my seven-year-old son to a race. He accepts, foolishly.
“I tell him he can race normal, I’ll give him a head start and ONLY swim under water. I end up swimming blind under water because obviously I don’t have goggles (why would I need them? I couldn’t swim until about 48 hours ago).”
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He then added: “In my panic of not wanting to lose and realising I haven’t quite mastered underwater technique, I fly full pelt, head first into the jagged side wall of the pool in front of about 25 spectators. I come up for air, dizzy, head pounding and my son is already at the other side.”
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The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess is the latest star to play a DJ set at E17 charity event, playing an intimate set for a tiny crowd of fans
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Tim got a great reaction from fans when he took to the decks
The Charlatans frontman Tim Burgess delighted fans at a charity party as he turned up to play for just 250 people.
The third anniversary of an event called Stow-Ho House took place at the Walthamstow Trades Hall, with the secret headliner revealed as Tim Burgess just hours before.
The lead singer of The Charlatans and indie legend treated the intimate capacity venue to an energetic and eclectic DJ set, bringing the same passion and musical insight to the dancefloor that has defined his decades-long career at the forefront of British music.
Other sets throughout the night came from producer, DJ and Cheap Thrills boss Hervé, Adelphi Music Factory, and more.
The regular event has a habit of bringing world class music talent to East London to raise money for charity.
For the 3rd Birthday, funds were donated primarily to War Child and also to Astron Health cancer cell sequencing to support a dear friend of Stow-Ho House.
Co-promoters Juliet Cromwell and Sam Potts said “We’re completely blown away by last night. All the DJ’s knocked it out the park and it was phenomenal to see the crowd bouncing until the lights turned on. Tim’s set was truly a floor filling masterclass – there was pure joy on the dancefloor in Walthamstow last night. Watch this space for the next event excitement.”
Rapidly establishing itself as the highlight of the E17 social calendar, Stow-Ho House is renowned as being “harder to get tickets for than Glastonbury”, according to locals with tickets selling out in seconds.
Previously, the highly sought-after gatherings have featured surprise performances from legendary figures such as Fatboy Slim, Groove Armada and Arctic Monkeys producer James Ford, alongside disco aficionado Greg Wilson, Secret Sundaze’s James Priestly, house music pioneer Lottie and celebrated artists including Frank Tope, Tayo and Trafford.
Originating as a platform for local talent, the event series has blossomed into a sensational triumph, held several times a year at The Walthamstow Trades Hall.
Stow-Ho House is the visionary creation of Juliet Cromwell and Sam Potts, who have harnessed their extensive contacts and deep knowledge of the music industry to raise essential funds in an innovative way – through the power of the dance floor.
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To date, the dynamic duo have raised nearly £35k for local charities, including Eat or Heat, Waltham Forest Hub, Success Charity and Sound and Music. Their unwavering commitment to charity and dedication to providing unforgettable experiences in local venues stand as a testament to their passion for all things E17.
Strictly Come Dancing winner Chris McCausland has said that he struggled to contain his emotions during his time on the BBC show, admitting “I tried to keep a lid on it”
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Chris McCausland has opened up on the emotional impact of performing on Strictly Come Dancing(Image: Getty Images for BAUER)
Strictly Come Dancing champion Chris McCausland has revealed the emotional burden of the programme after reaching the final and claiming the prestigious Glitterball trophy last year.
Having secured the top prize, he has confessed that he battled to control his feelings as he progressed through the contest alongside his dance partner, Dianne Buswell.
During a recent appearance on the Parenting Hell podcast, the Liverpool-born comedian discussed the intense emotions throughout his stint on the BBC programme, revealing: “It was a lot every week. I tried to keep a lid on it in one sense, which was to not kind of break down on the telly.”
He continued: “But I also realised very quickly something that I’ve always shied away from – the value in people seeing you be vulnerable.”
Despite struggling to “keep a lid” on his feelings throughout the programme, one of his most unforgettable moments came when he performed the waltz to the soundtrack of You’ll Never Walk Alone, leaving both judges and viewers stunned by the routine.
The pair’s waltz even secured them the BAFTA for Memorable Moment at the 2025 awards.
While many had predicted him to be knocked out in the early rounds, Chris and Dianne stunned audiences as they progressed all the way to the final, defeating rivals including Sarah Hadland, JB Gill, and Tasha Ghouri to be crowned champions.
Their Strictly victory held additional significance as it marked the first time a blind contestant had ever clinched the title.
Before his Strictly win, Chris had already gained fame from years of touring the country as a stand-up comedian, with a major career highlight in 2018 when he appeared on Live at the Apollo.
In addition to Strictly, he has made several other TV appearances over the years, featuring in the Jimmy McGovern series Moving On in 2014.
Since then, he has also appeared in EastEnders, Would I Lie To You?, Have I Got News For You, and 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown.
Yesterday, the 48-year-old released his new memoir, Keep Laughing, documenting everything from his early life to his Strictly win.
Much like Victoria Beckham, Su Hobson developed a disorded relationship with food back in the ’00s, which mirrored the distorted era of fad diets, ‘heroin chic’ and damaging pressures
Like many women her age, Su Hobson could relate all too well to the darker aspects of Victoria Beckham’s new Netflix documentary.
Glamorous Victoria remains one of the great icons of the ’90s and ’00s. Being one-fifth of The Spice Girls, Posh Spice represented Cool Britannia and Girl Power, and then married one of the most successful footballers and bedroom wall pin-ups of all time, David Beckham, forging a power couple brand that endures to this day.
However, in her new doc, fashion designer Victoria, 54, doesn’t shy away from discussing the grimmer aspects of this era, including the alarming body image pressures that triggered a devastating eating disorder.
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Opening up about this period of her life, the legendarily stylish WAG told viewers how her mental health plummeted following a 1999 appearance on Channel 4 show TFI Friday.
The then 25-year-old had only recently given birth to her first son, Brooklyn, and host Chris Evans asked her to hop on some scales to see if she’d dropped the weight.
Victoria recalled: “I really started to doubt myself and not like myself, because I let it affect me. I didn’t know what I saw when I looked in the mirror. Was I fat? Was I thin? I don’t know. You lose all sense of reality.
“I was just very critical of myself. I didn’t like what I saw. I’ve been everything from ‘Porky Posh’ to ‘Skinny Posh’. It’s been a lot, and that’s hard.”
This self-doubt is all too familiar to longevity coach Su, who, at 54, came of age at around the same time as the Spice Girl. This was an era when perfectly healthy-looking women were considered to be ‘plus-sized’, while those with curvier frames were regularly mocked and shouted at on weight loss shows. The message was clear: Lose weight, or lose your right to respect.
Reflecting on this culture, Su, who runs Su Hobson Coaching, told the Mirror: “[Victoria] was obviously in the public eye and all these comments about her being podgy and all of that, you know, comments would be made. It seemed to be okay.
“My family would say it, people who knew you would say it. I think they still do to women now, to be honest, but you know it’s like, ‘Oh, you put on weight’, ‘Oh, look at your thighs’. Since when did society think it’s okay to make unsolicited comments about women’s weight? I was getting comments all the time, and it makes you insecure, and then you’re seeking to do something about it, you end up going to extremes.”
Su was around 13 years old when she first started to feel self-conscious about her body. “[Victoria] is of a very similar age to me. So we’ve grown up in that era of, ‘You should be smaller’. It was all about being lighter, smaller, and to do that, you should diet. And when it came to exercise, you should do ridiculous amounts of cardio, kind of punishing exercise. So that was the message we grew up with.
“As a teenager, and thank God there wasn’t social media then, I was very, very self-aware of my own figure and comments that people made at school stuck with me. Like, you know, you’ve got really big fat thighs and awful comments like that.”
Throughout her 20s, Su’s life became “mad” and “out of control”. She was drinking a lot, and by the time she reached her early 30s, she’d gained weight and wanted to do something about it and regain ‘control’. Unfortunately, popular health wisdom at the time was often anything but healthy.
She explained: “I felt that pressure to be skinny and to look amazing, I was looking for a partner, I guess, at the time as well. You know, [Victoria] talked about this. This is the bit I resonated with: her life.
“There was nothing in her life within her control, and she started to control her food because it’s something she wanted to control, and this is really common with women. They do it because it is something they can control, and I guess that’s why I did it as well. My life wasn’t going where I wanted it to, but I knew I could control how I looked through controlling my food.”
For two years, Su obsessively stuck to the Atkins diet, a controversial yet popular low-carbohydrate plan. During this time, Su, who goes by the Instagram handle @su_longevitycoach, refused to eat carbs and didn’t exercise – her goal was purely to lose weight. “I think one of the reasons I didn’t exercise, not just because I thought I didn’t need to, I didn’t have any energy to exercise,” she says.
“I wasn’t in a good headspace, self-esteem-wise, back then, and you know, I was losing all this weight, but it’s so surface-level, you think, and again, I deal with this with women now, they think if they get to a certain size, they’re going to be happy.
“Well, obviously you’re not because it’s a lot more deep-rooted than that, so you know you chase this look, you get really skinny, you get obsessed with it, but it doesn’t take you anywhere good. In fact, it damages your health, and I’ve spent a lot of years now strength training to try to build not just muscle but get my bone health back.
“We didn’t have scans back then, but I know full well that not eating carbohydrates for two years must have damaged my bone density. Being that underweight has so many negative effects on the body.”
At the time, however, Su didn’t realise just how serious her disordered eating was. She revealed: “I got really, really skinny. There was a moment, and I remember it clearly. I was living in a house in Manchester, and I remember looking in this full-length mirror, and my hip bones were quite dramatically protruding. And I thought, ‘That looks really good’. And I look back now, and I know that that absolutely was disordered eating and a disordered relationship with my body.”
In her mid-thirties, Su met and married her now-husband and welcomed two children. Finding herself wanting to lose weight at 41, this time she realised she needed to make her health a priority and launched a career as a personal trainer.
Nowadays, her work is focused on helping women in midlife navigate their fitness journeys, and she often still comes up against deeply ingrained issues from the ’90s and ’00s, with this particular generation left “massively” affected.
Su said: “So a client will come to me and their first thing is I want to lose weight, and I desperately try and get people to stop thinking about what they weigh. It’s absolutely irrelevant, and it doesn’t help when you start lifting weights because, if anything, you can put on weight.
“They say, I want you to look like you, for example. And then I say, ‘Well, okay, how many calories do you eat a day?’ And they tell me, I’m like, ‘Well, you’re going to need to eat more than that. You’re completely under-eating, and you need to start lifting some weights and stop those hours on the treadmill or hours on the stepper’.
“And they’re horrified because that’s all they’ve known and they know that it’s not working anymore because they’re starting to put on weight, and they’re thinking, ‘Hang on a minute something’s changing’, but when you tell them what they need to do it’s a complete unlearning of everything that they’ve heard their whole life.
“Some struggle with it, and the ones that do do it are the ones that are successful and you know healthy and happy and stronger and more confident, but women just aren’t used to that message, and to tell them to eat more is like, ‘What? No, no, I can’t eat more!'”
If you are looking for support, contact eating disorder charity Beat Eby visiting their website here.
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Do you have a story to share? Email me at julia.banim@reachplc.com
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Comedian Peter Kay has opened up about his family’s tradition of attending Remembrance Sunday services and how he was left heartbroken after making a realisation
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Peter Kay (Image: Jo Hale/Getty Images)
Peter Kay has confessed that his “heart hit the floor” upon waking on Remembrance Sunday, as he reflected on the painful loss of his father and grandfather.
Every November, ceremonies are held nationwide to mark Armistice Day, honouring the servicemen and women of the two World Wars and subsequent conflicts.
For the 52-year-old comedian, visiting the cenotaph has been a long-standing family tradition. In his newly published book, Peter Kay’s Diary, he revealed that his grandad used to take him when he was a lad.
The funnyman, renowned for his observational wit and heartwarming storytelling, shared that he now takes his own children to pay their respects but admitted this year’s Remembrance Sunday was particularly tough.
He said: “Strange how your mind can play tricks on you. I woke on Remembrance Sunday this year and in those first few minutes of disorientation I recalled what the day ahead was and thought I’ll take my dad and grandad to the cenotaph. Then suddenly I remembered they’d both died, and my heart hit the floor,” reports the Manchester Evening News.
In his book, the Car Share star delved into his childhood, proudly donning his poppy as he strolled into the town hall square, immersing himself in the spectacle of the parades and music.
“It was always emotional seeing crowds gather each year. The dwindling number of ex-service men and women… I was always impressed by the parades that marched past the cenotaph. The music, and the pivotal moment at eleven o’clock when the ‘Last Post’ is played by a lone bugle, followed by the moving two-minute silence,” he said.
He fondly remembered the sensory experience of the occasion, including the jarring moments. “Tanks would fire and I’d jump out of my skin. I still do. An old man leaned over to me and whispered, ‘That bang frightens the young’uns every year.’ I thought, ‘Yeah and some of the adults too. I suffer from globophobia, buddy.’”
Yet Peter admitted that not all contemporary ceremonies match the reverence he recalls. “Sadly, the respect had somewhat waned this year. When we had the two-minute silence, somebody received a text message. ‘Beep, Beep.’ Then a woman right in front of me was vaping. And somebody brought a bloody puppy. Barking and yapping all through the service. Rude f******,” he said.
The Bolton-born funnyman also recounted an episode where he discovered he required urgent surgery after being struck down by excruciating kidney stones.
Charlotte Church is offering a lucky few the chance to go on a five-day witchcraft retreat next year, though the prices per room and per person certainly don’t come cheap
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A witchcraft workshop helmed by Charlotte Church has eye-watering accommodation prices (file)(Image: Rekha Garton)
A five-day retreat with singer-songwriter Charlotte Church is currently open to book, but the “witchy” retreat doesn’t come cheap. Charlotte, 39, who is now appearing on BBC show The Celebrity Traitors, is offering a guided retreat of witchcraft and rituals during the Waning Gibbous Moon phase. The retreat in Wales is available for 17 people per session.
But the price of said retreat, namely the accommodation costs, has left some people staggered. While some fans are excited for the “incredible” opportunity to experience witchcraft wonders with Church, the eye-watering price may put a few people off attending. The “Witch Retreat” has prices starting from £1,199 per person for the retreat.
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That would be the cheapest option for a couple according to the booking website, which also has accommodations available to solo travellers from £1,299 per person.
A description for the event reads: “An enchanting 5-day retreat led by Charlotte Church & Tree Carr for 17 souls ready to embody their magic through ritual, nature, and deep witchcraft practices during the Waning Gibbous Moon phase.
“This immersive retreat is designed to activate the witch within: blending ancient wisdom, elemental magic, and deep self-exploration.
“Led by singer and spiritual guide Charlotte Church and High Priestess and author Tree Carr, this retreat is an opportunity to rekindle your craft through ritual, herbalism, dream-work, plant-spirit connection, meditation, sound, and sacred art.
“The Dreaming, a haven nestled in magical lands of Wales, provides the perfect setting for witches to reconnect with the old ways. Through guided experiences in forest bathing, herbal alchemy, candle magic, dream initiation, and communal rituals, we awaken our power and forge a deeper relationship with nature, self, and spirit.”
Each day is also to be themed around “earth, water, air, fire and spirit” though to reconnect with nature it’ll cost over £1,000 for your accommodation alone.
While the rooms do look stunning, attendees will be sharing with others in a communal bunk unless the booking party “prefer solitude”.
The site adds: “Our distinctive approach assigns beds individually rather than by room, encouraging interactions with fellow guests. Embracing shared living is ingrained in The Dreaming values, creating an environment where meaningful bonds flourish.”
Two events are scheduled for next year, one between July 17 and July 21, the second between November 13 to November 17, 2026.
Some were thrilled by the announcement despite the price of accommodation. One person took to Instagram and wrote: “Goosebumps!! What an offering! So potent and powerful and present.
“The energy of WITCH is truly alive and she is undeniable! Your video creation is INCREDIBLE!! I pray to my ancestors that I can somehow come.”
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Others said they were “manifesting” a place on the witch retreat, with one writing: “Stunning. I’m going to manifest a place for myself!”
