Abbie Quinnen has shared snaps of her burnt skin, after she caught fire during a social media stunt.
The 23-year-old suffered third-degree burns and required skin grafts, after a blazing wine bottle exploded in her face as she attempted to film a ‘life hack’ video with her boyfriend AJ Pritchard.
Sharing photos of her injuries with The Sun, the dancer tearfully opened up about the terrifying ordeal that left her “shaking in horror”.
Abbie told the publication: “AJ and I just wanted to do the lifehack video for fans to watch at home. It was a popular video online so we were doing a test-run in the kitchen that I was going to film.”
“My hair caught fire and within seconds the flames had spread to my top and my body was alight. It was such a shock, I was panicking and screaming. I dropped down to the floor and I was rolling to try to put out the fire.
“I saw my life flash before my eyes. I never thought something like that would happen to me. The first thing I said to AJ was, ‘Is my face going to be OK? Are you still going to love me?’ I kept repeating this to him and I was shaking in horror.”
The risky social media stunt involves dipping a rope in a flammable chemical, wrapping it around a wine bottle and setting light to it to cut it into a vase.
“As soon as AJ lit the flame to the rope, the fire was suddenly everywhere,” Abbie recalled. “I threw myself on the floor and AJ was running around with wet towels to cover me.”
“When it was out, I looked on the floor and it was covered in my burnt hair. We had to cut off the crop top I had on with a pair of scissors, my skin was blistering and it was digging into me.”
“AJ was comforting me – I couldn’t speak as I was in so much shock. I was shaking, and I just kept asking if he would still love me. I was wearing a dressing gown and leggings. My face was burning hot, it felt very painful. I was lucky it missed my eye.”
“I had massive blisters filled with water on my chest, neck and face and they had to pop them and clean the areas. It was extremely painful. The doctor made me feel at ease.”
“My face swelled up. I couldn’t see out of my right eye. Luckily, there were no mirrors in the bathrooms but I kept glimpsing my reflection in my phone screen, it was horrific.”
“I could tell I looked like a completely different person. From the moment it happened, I was worried I would never look the same again. I looked so horrible and awful I was terrified about seeing anyone,” she admitted.
“AJ did try to come to the hospital to give me a bag of clothes but I was adamant I didn’t want him to see me like this. I was embarrassed about the way I looked.”
“I felt safe in the hospital where they could help me if I was in pain. I was on so many medications I don’t remember a lot of it.”
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Opening up about her reunion with AJ once she left the hospital, Abbie said: “I was so nervous seeing him, when we were reunited we were both welling up. But once we saw each other, I felt better.”
“I remember trying to get home and being on a mission to hide, I was so traumatised by the way that I looked. AJ was just relieved that I was talking.”
“He reassures me constantly and tells me we are together forever — he welcomed me home with balloons. I can’t thank him enough. He’s been incredible. He helps me moisturise every day, he washes my silicone pads, used to reduce scarring. I’m so grateful.”
Abbie warned her fans about the dangers of social media stunts, saying: “I want to raise awareness about how dangerous this video is. I think that helping others will help heal myself.”
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