A nail-biting live semi-final has seen world champion boxer Carl Froch triumph with his celebrity trainer Rob Payne from Loughborough College to reach the final of BBC Tumble.
After a spectacular performance on the parallel bars and an outstanding floor routine with partner Sita Bhuller, scores from the BBC One show’s judges at the weekend - including Olympic medal-winner Louis Smith and legendary Romanian gymnast Nadia Comaneci - secured the pair a top three place on the leader board.
But when phone lines opened to viewers’ votes and the results were combined with the judges’ scores there was shock as the IBF and WBA super middleweight champion found himself in the bottom two, facing the dreaded vault-off.
Former Great Britain gymnast and Loughborough College Elite Sport tutor Rob Payne said: “It was certainly a surprise to see Carl in the final two after such praise and high scores from the judges – Nadia even singled him out as the celebrity she wanted to see go through.
“It would have been very disappointing after 12 weeks of Carl working so hard to fall at the final hurdle – but luckily he did an amazing vault.”
The former Loughborough College student even did a landing he had never practiced during training.
“That was a bit of surprise but we are thrilled to be in the final and we’re planning to go out and really enjoy it.
“The vault is part of the scoring next week and Carl has a great one up his sleeve, we also have a spectacular routine he’ll be doing with Sita which includes the trapeze. Hopefully it will really wow the audience and the viewers at home.
“It’s been such a pleasure working with Carl. He jokes all the time and we laugh so much but he is also really committed, rises to the demands of the training and has done everything I have asked of him … eventually!
“Carl told me that when he returns to his boxing training he wants to continue with gymnastics and incorporate it into his conditioning, which is really good news.
“But for now we are putting everything into our last ever week on this series of Tumble. All the celebrities have really raised their game and spurred each other on to produce some great gymnastics – it should be a fantastic final.”