Nile Wilson shares that his dad will attend first Dancing on Ice live show despite second stroke

Nile Wilson has shared that his dad will be there to support him during the first live Dancing on Ice show on Sunday night.

The former Team GB gymnast, 26, from Leeds appeared on This Morning on Friday where he was asked about his dad’s health.

Nile revealed that his dad will be in attendance for his son’s figure skating debut despite waiting to have brain surgery next Tuesday.

Whilst appearing on This Morning on Friday (January 13) Dermot O’Leary asked the former gymnast how his dad’s health was.

Dermot asked the Olympic bronze medal holder: “Nile, your father recently just had brain surgery, didn’t he? So how’s he doing?”

Nile responded to the television host saying: “He’s good. He’s not actually had the surgery, it will be on Tuesday. He’s had a second stroke, which has been a tough time for the Wilson family. But he’s a fighter, he’s a grafter.

“He’s just kept going, you wouldn’t know. He’ll be here on Sunday, shouting the loudest. But I think that’s just more inspiration for me to just be able to do that for him and him experience that is going to be fantastic.”

The former gymnast will compete on the live show on Sunday with five other celebrities but will take the following weekend off as the remainder of the eleven celebrities perform their routines.

Neil Wilson shared two months ago with his 40.8k followers that he had suffered a second stroke and had spent four days in the hospital.

He told his followers: “5 weeks ago I had another bleed on my brain effectively having a second stroke 10 years after I had the first one and spent 4 days in hospital. I wanted to write a post to say a massive thank you to @sallywilson2016 (my carer) @nilemw & @joannajwilson for all the love and support you have shown me.

“Also big thank you to @luke_sutts and all the team at @nilewilsongymnastics for the love and hard work. A special mention for @amyycard for supporting 2 clubs through the last couple of months, everybody at Rotherham & Leeds have just been sensational.

“I am waiting to find out about surgery and when that will be happening, feel so lucky again when so many people end up with very sever symptoms and their quality of life is so highly impacted on.”

At the time, Nile’s sister Joanna, 24, shared a video of their dad with the caption: “I love you Dad.

“This video isn’t a fair reflection of the emotions that we’ve all felt over the last couple of weeks but it is a fair reflection of my Dad. Calm in a crisis and always making the people around him smile. you inspire me everyday and this is just another hurdle that we’ll all overcome!”

Nile shared his competitive nature with Dermot and Alison Hammond as he revealed he wanted to do something that had never been done on the show before.

Nile said: “I’ve said from the beginning that I’d really love to do something that no ones actually ever done. There’s a few jumps and spins and with like the gymnastics background, the biggest thing that I’ve been able to take over is learning and knowing how to fall over, which has allowed me to just try all this stuff, cause I know safely I can, it sounds ridiculous but cushion myself on the ice and move out of the way if my face is going towards it.

“So, there will be some stuff coming for sure. Whether we can pull it off or not is so different, but I’m so excited.”

Nile’s family including his parents Neil and Sally and younger sister Joanna have been supportive of his ice skating rehearsals.

Last month, Joanna, who produces content on her YouTube channel ‘Jay Wilson’ shared a video of the family attending Nile’s ice skating rehearsals.

Joanna can be heard excitedly telling her parent’s “he looks so good” as he practised some figure skating moves on the ice.

Nile and his partner Olivia Smart will take to the ice on Sunday night as the first live show of Dancing on Ice 2023 begins.