AJ Pritchard fears going out in "larger crowds" after he and his brother Curtis Pritchard were attacked in a nightclub.
The ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ pro and his fellow dancer sibling were allegedly set upon by a group of up to eight men, leaving Curtis with torn knee cartilage and the pair with several bruises, and Curtis believes the incident may have been sparked by "jealously" towards them.
He said: "I can only say perhaps it was jealousy, because AJ was doing a couple of photos with people.
"He’s a good looking lad. I was the one getting asked to take the photos, which is fine."
AJ added: "If someone comes up to me and asks me for a photo, if they do it politely, I’m always going to say yes.
"It [the incident] has made me very aware of putting myself in a scenario of larger crowds.
"Obviously I’m doing the ‘Strictly’ tour coming up and I will think twice …
"The really sad thing in this scenario was that we were just out to have a good time, and it came from nowhere.
"There was none of us in the first place causing a hassle or anything, we were not there for that scenario, that’s what is really sad for us."
Curtis has bene forced to pull out of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ training following the attack, which took place at Nakatcha, a club in Nantwich, Cheshire.
Speaking in a joint interview on ‘This Morning’, he said: "I tore the cartilage on the inside and the outside of my knee.
"I’ve had to pull out of ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
"They’re saying it’ll be around about three weeks before I can start walking on it fully and around about four to five weeks before I can start dancing on it.
"We weren’t there for trouble at all. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time. We wanted to spend Christmas together and have a good time.
"Once it happened the first thing that came to my mind was, ‘We’re in trouble. AJ is in trouble. We need to get out of this situation.’ We weren’t there to fight.
"I’m lucky AJ was there, because if I was still stood where I was I would’ve been in a much worse way. AJ managed to get me out of the situation.
"He managed to carry me off the floor and he managed to carry me to safety."
AJ added: "As you turned to your left you were punched, and you were protecting me, taking the full brunt to the face and kick to the body, you start falling and I realised that in this scenario there’s no winning."
When asked if they fought back, he replied: "Absolutely not."
Lauren Steadman, who AJ partnered in the latest ‘Strictly’ series, sent a message to the pair via video link on the show.
The Paralympian said: "Hi guys, I know you’ve been through a really rough time, but everybody is behind you.
"You two are so strong. Let’s move forward, 2019, you’re both amazing and everyone is behind you. See you soon."
AJ Pritchard fears going out in crowds after nightclub attack
