Strictly pro dancer AJ Pritchard has said his brother Curtis was knocked unconscious as he shielded his brother during a vicious nightclub attack.
AJ, 24, said 23-year-old Curtis were victims of an attack last week in Cheshire, and now AJ has said his brave brother risked his life and his dancing career to protect him.
Curtis has had to pull out of RTE’s Dancing With The Stars and now faces knee surgery, which could mean he may never dance again.
“Curtis risked his own dancing career to save mine as he threw himself in front of the attackers so they couldn’t get to me,” AJ told the UK Sun.
“He was thinking of both my dancing career with my legs and my TV career with my face.
“He tried to protect me and in doing so saved my life and my legs from danger.
“I soon realised there were no winners in this scenario. I just wanted us both to come out alive. I care more about Curtis than I do about selfies and looking good,” he explained.
The duo had headed on a night out with friends, after being at home with family for Christmas.
AJ explained that the brothers often frequented the club they went to, and felt “safe” because they knew all of the staff there.
But the pair believes that the attack was provoked when AJ was getting lots of female attention from Strictly fans.
Shortly after the pair were attacked on the dancefloor.
“We were dancing as a group and, out of the blue, Curtis was violently pushed from the side,” AJ explained.
“It all happened so quickly. Suddenly, we were surrounded by about eight blokes.
“He stuck his arms out to try and stop them and moved in front of me but we were punched and kicked from all angles. We had no time to defend ourselves,
“By the time we even put our hands up we were being punched and kicked.
“It was like a scene out of a movie, with all the aggression and violence. Nothing like this had ever happened to us before.
“I couldn’t even take in the pain from the kicks and punching. I just knew we had to get away.”
Curtis added: “There were about eight lads on two of us and we’re not fighters.
“We’re not there for a fight. We don’t want to cause trouble.
“I looked up to see what was happening and I saw four lads go to grab AJ and I thought, ‘I’ve got to get in between them and him to protect him’.
“So I put my arm over to push him backwards out of the way and intercepted them with my body. That’s when people were all around us and started violently swinging and hitting at us. It was crazy.
“Because my arms were down trying to protect AJ and push him back, a massive hook came at my face and hit me in the right eye and seconds later a second hook came again and hit me in the same place on my right eye.
“That’s when my legs turned to jelly and I went down and blacked out. It was terrifying. I didn’t know what was happening.
After security staff interjected, AJ dragged his unconscious brother off the dancefloor.
“He’d been badly punched and kicked in the face and body and I knew I had to get him away so dragged his body under my arm away from danger.
“His shins were severely hit, his nose, lips and face were bloody. He looked a mess. His eye was closed up and his whole face looked swollen. My T-shirt was covered in his blood. I was terrified.”
Curtis said he feared he had lost his sight in one eye.
“I remember waking up and people were saying, ‘Your face!’ I couldn’t even see through one eye but I was panicking, shouting, ‘My knee, my knee — I can’t walk. I can’t put pressure on it’.
“I knew it wasn’t good. I wasn’t even thinking about my face, I was more worried about my leg. I was thinking, ‘If my leg’s not working I can’t do the dancing that I’ve trained my entire life for’.
“People can still dance blind but they need their legs.”
“I don’t know what I’ll do if I can’t dance again,” Curtis added. “I just hope that operation can save me.”
