Karim Zeroual has vowed to take to the Strictly Come Dancing dancefloor this weekend despite illness threatening to end his time on the BBC dance show.

The 25-year-old CBBC presenter was forced to pull out of an appearance on Strictly spin-off show It Takes Two, with pro dance partner Amy Dowden doing the show alone on Wednesday night.

Karim has been hit by flu and it has limited his opportunity to rehearse ahead of Saturday's live show, leaving him in danger of being dropped from the the competition.

Dowden told It Takes Two host Zoe Ball that Karim was "so disappointed" not to be there and confirmed: "He's got the lurgy so he's resting up because obviously we need him fighting fit, ready for Saturday night."

Karim Zeroual and Amy Dowden

Karim is still feeling it on Friday but has said: "It started off with a sore throat , just a bit of a cold, (I'm) just run down, (I'm) really just working hard, I just needed some bed time.

"I literally just sat there (in bed), drank loads of water, honey lemon and ginger, but I'm on the way up now."

He added: "It would take a lot to not get me down (there) on Saturday, that's for sure. But that's kind of what I had in mind.

Karim has performed well so far with Amy

"I thought you know what, if I need to just have a bit of a bed day so I'm alright for the dress run on Friday and I'm alright for the show on Saturday, that was my main priority really."

He is due to perform a tango to George Ezra's Paradise with Amy on Saturday night.

The pairing have so far impressed the judges and earned high scores of 31 and 32 respectively. When scores were combined for week one and week two, they found themselves at the top of the leaderboard.

Karim alongside Anneka Rice in the launch show
Karim has missed rehearsals for much of the week

Asked if he suffers pre-show nerves, he said: "I am pretty confident, but with Strictly, oh my goodness. I'm the one on the Saturday calming everyone down.

"And then before we go on, we'll run it through and I make silly mistakes and then I start shaking like a leaf.

"I go out there, the first four steps, I'm a mess, I'm looking around and there's nothing that can prepare you for the actual live. And then I just shake."

Two celebrities - Anneka Rice and James Cracknell - have left the series so far.

*Strictly Come Dancing airs on BBC One on Saturday at 6.40pm.
