Strictly Come Dancing axed star Kristian Nairn's hidden pain before bombshell exit

Strictly Come Dancing star Kristian Nairn shocked fans with his abrupt exit before the show has even begun, as he issued a heartfelt video message. The Game of Thrones actor and DJ revealed he has decided to step away from the BBC competition just a week into training.

The 49 year old has now been replaced by Emmerdale's Lewis Cope, who was announced hours later. Kristian took to his own social media account following his exit as he admitted he wouldn't be doing the "PR thing".

In his message, Kristian said: "Like so many people at the minute, I have dealing with a high level of stress. And a little bit of grief, if I’m going to be really real.

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"I’ve always been my mother’s son and I have always powered through things like this in the past and any other time of my life actually. Honestly I think I’ve got a pretty healthy attitude towards stuff like this. I thought I did at least."

He explained that "for the first time it’s manifested physically" causing a spike in his vitals. Kristian has decided to rest as he receives treatment, meaning he now doesn't have time to train before Strictly starts.

In his video, he admitted: "This is something that I haven’t dealt with before so this is a surprise for me. I always thought I had this." Kristian wished his fellow contestants well and urged his fans he has "totally got this".

Back in 2019, Kristian opened up on his mum's health as he revealed he was cancelling his tour to be with her. He shared a selfie of them together alongside a heartfelt caption.

Kristian wrote: "This week has been the most personally challenging and painful weeks of my life. My wonderful mum was rushed to hospital on Monday, and is still fighting for her life.

"I hate letting my fans down, but I've had to take the decision to cancel my gigs and appearances for the next few weeks so I can be by my mums side. Thanks so much to everyone who has shown support this week. It’s been greatly appreciated.

"I hope you all understand the reasons why I had to do this. Family comes first x." Kristian has been vocal about his mum's support through his sexuality and career.

"When I was 13 my mum knew that I was gay and she just always knew...I used to play Wonder Woman with her when I was a kid and I was always Wonder Woman (I always stopped short of the outfit, thank God)," he told Yahoo News Australia in September 2014.

"I actually started off - believe it or not - doing drag, I travelled the world because I was a completely off the wall drag artist...It wasn't feminine, it was just Marilyn Manson meets Divine meets some sort of monster from out of space, that sort of thing.

"Then that changed to the DJ'ing and I had an agent through all that nonsense and he put me up for the odd audition, and one of them turned out to be Game Of Thrones."

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