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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Lily Waddell

Britain’s Got Talent star Jonathan Goodwin paralysed after TV stunt went wrong

Jonathan Goodwin and Amanda Abbington pictured when the BGT star was released from hospital

(Picture: Jonathan Goodwin Instagram)

Britain’s Got Talent star Jonathan Goodwin has been left paralysed after disaster struck during his stunt rehearsals for America’s Got Talent.

His fiancée Amanda Abbington, 48, said the escapologist “nearly died twice” following an accident during America’s Got Talent: Extreme rehearsals in October 2021.

The Britain’s Got Talent star, 42, was crushed between two cars which caught on fire when he plunged 30 feet after he tried to escape from a straight jacket while hanging upside down.

Now the Sherlock actress said it is unlikely her love will ever walk again after the stunt went wrong at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Georgia.

She told Jay Rayner’s Out To Lunch podcast: “He fell 30ft and lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades, shattered both legs.

“Third degree burns, broke his spine and severed his spinal cord and nearly died. And then on the operating table he nearly died again.”

She continued: “He’s paralysed now he’s in a wheelchair. Unless there’s a kind of stem cell surgery or that thing that Elon Musk is designing with the little chip, he’ll be like that forever.”

He was released from hospital in February.

Shortly after the accident, the escape artist said “boo” to death as he spoke out on Instagram about the stunt going wrong.

He wrote on Instagram: “To death I say nananana boo boo. I have been to the very brink and dodged the worst that a human being can, without fear… because I was protected by love.

”Love is all you need, so make sure you get some, cos its good s***. ‘There is a long road to recovery and that won’t look like what it did… I may leave the daft s*** alone for a while, but I have a lot left to do in this world. Maybe we can make something good together?”

It is believed the couple got engaged just weeks before the accident last year.

Abbingdon has two children with former partner Martin Freeman.

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