Amanda Abbington has revealed the horrific injury she sustained during week two of Strictly Come Dancing.
The actor, 49, is now being forced to recover while wearing a brace and is being "held together" by "Ibuprofen and bruises" following the painful incident.
Despite going into the second routine of the series already injured, Abbington and her pro partner Giovanni Pernice still pulled out all of the stops with a number of jaw-dropping lifts and twists.
They impressed so much that they not only avoided the first elimination of the series - at the expense of Les Dennis - but by combining their first two scores of the series, they finished second on the leaderboard.
Taking to Instagram, after progressing in the contest, Abbington and her husband Jonathan Goodwin explained all.
Abbington told her followers: "I just wanted to say thank you to everybody who's been so lovely and voted to keep Giovanni and I in Strictly.
Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice wowed the audience on Saturday
BBC
"It's wonderful. I'm thrilled," she continued. "And it was so much fun last night. And I had this guy [husband Jonathan Goodwin] in the audience and my best friend, and I just want to thank every single person who voted to keep us in.
"It means a lot. It means the world, I promise you," Abbington went on before turning her attention to the next routine in the pipeline.
She said: "So we move on tomorrow to the next dance, which I'm very excited about because it's movie week and our movie is cracking."
Goodwin joked it was "The Exorcist" before Abbington delved into her injury woes: "But I've got a popped rib."
Goodwin then chimed in: "Amanda, in that dance, actually, you did it in the rehearsal, not in the dance... she has literally popped a rib.
"So when she was doing all of those lifts (during the show), she was doing it with a popped rib, which is even more - she should have got more points for that."
Abbington weighed back in to explain further and even lifted her arm to show bruises and her top to show off the brace.
She added: "And I've also got another bad rib on the left-hand side... I can't speak today. It's because I've got a popped rib. I've got so many bruises as well, look at that.
"I'm held together by bruises, Ibuprofen and a brace. Look, I've got a brace on," Abbington said as she lifted her top.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Amanda Abbington and Giovanni Pernice have made it to Movie Week
BBC
Abbington as well as Strictly fans everywhere will undoubtedly be hoping she has what it takes to recover in time to put on another show-stopping performance on Saturday.
However, she also found herself at the centre of a favouritism row among BBC viewers when eagle-eyed fans spotted a peculiar trend with the dances she and Pernice had been given.
Strictly has also already been marred by another row so far this series thanks to Shirley Ballas' scoring of female competitors, with some fans even branding it "sexist".
Fans will have to tune in this weekend to see if Abbington can live up to the high bar she and Pernice have set themselves thus far.
