'There's no stopping you, darling!' Natalie Gumede earns judge's praise and tops the leaderboard despite suffering from a painful spine injury

By SOPHIA CHARALAMBOUS and SIMON BOYLE

PUBLISHED: 23:30, 19 October 2013 | UPDATED: 01:02, 20 October 2013

Despite suffering from a painful spinal injury, Natalie Gumede still shone on Saturday night's Strictly Come Dancing, with her Quick Step routine, earning her a place at the top of the leaderboard.

The ex-Coronation star scored 35 out of 40 points, putting her in first place alongside model Abbey Clancy and singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

Her stellar performance even lead notoriously hard to please judge Craig Revel Horwood to comment: 'I love the fusion of quick step and jazz.. I think it was done immaculately. There is no stopping you darling; stunning.'

Dancing through the pain: Artem Chigvinstev and Natalie Gumede performed a stunning routine on Saturday's Strictly Come Dancing despite the actress suffering from sciatica

But unlike her other contestants Natalie has not had an easy ride this week, as she was diagnosed with sciatica during rehearsals.

The actress, who is also the bookies' favourite to win Strictly, was injected with powerful painkillers to get her through her performance after collapsing during rehearsals.

She joked with host Tess Daly in the Green Room after her Quick Step, and said: 'I'm as high as a kite.'

But jokes aside, Natalie has been warned by doctors that she may have to quit the show is the injuries sustain.

Stellar performance: During the live show, Natalie wowed the judges with her Quickstep

Show sources told the Mail On Sunday that the 29-year-old has been warned the condition will 'not just go away' and may eventually force her to pull out of Strictly.

The show's producers said that they have been thrilled with her performances and positive reviews from the judging panel.

A show source said: 'Natalie's primary focus was to make it to this weekend, which was only possible thanks to the hard work of the excellent medical team hired by the show.

Being brave: Natalie waited patiently in the doctor's surgery earlier this week, whilst she waited to hear the results of her scan

'It would have been a real shame to pull out having made such a fantastic start in the competition, and she was so determined to dance again.

'But the reality is her condition is a long term one which isn't going to go away overnight - and she has been warned that pushing herself further might cause even more problems.

'It was really touch-and-go this week and if things flare up even more it would probably be the end of the competition for her.'

In agony: Natalie was in agony during rehearsals, and eventually had to stop as the pain got even worse

Natalie, who is known for playing Corrie villain Kirsty Soames, informed her fans via Twitter that she was given the all-clear to perform on Saturday night's show.

On the series launch night, back in August, she explained how she enjoyed dancing as a child but could not keep it up when as she started to develop back problems.

Sciatica is caused when the sciatic nerves in the spine are irritated and is normally caused by compression of the spine's vertebrae or a slipped disk.

Still in character: Natalie Gumede and Artem kept in character throughout the dance, and luckily she felt no pain through the performance

Despite her woes, the judges were extremely complimentary of her Quick Step performance.

Judge Bruno Tonioli said: 'I can't believe you delivered a dance of this standard in such a short time.

'It was just like being there with you. you capture the spirit of the dance.

Spinning around: The pair spun in each other's arms and still managed to score an impressive 35 out of 40 from the judges

'I thought it was absolutely wonderful.'

But it was left to Darcey Bussell to sum up by giving a few words of advice: 'After what you've been through this week you could have afforded to not have done so much and it would still have been fabulous.

'Don't be too ambitious - look after yourself.'

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Sunday, 20 October 2013

Natalie Gumede earns judge's praise and tops the leaderboard despite suffering from a painful spine injury

'There's no stopping you, darling!' Natalie Gumede earns judge's praise and tops the leaderboard despite suffering from a painful spine injury