Former Britain's Got Talent Star Left Paralysed After Stunt Goes Wrong

Former Britain's Got Talent contestant and self-described 'daredevil' Jonathan Goodwin has been left paralysed by a stunt which went wrong late last year.

Goodwin was rushed to hospital in October 2021 after performing the stunt which involved him escaping from a straight jacket while hanging upside down between two suspended cars for an episode of America's Got Talent: Extreme.

The timing of the trick ended up being misjudged and Goodwin was ultimately crushed between the cars as they caught on fire.

In the days after the accident he shared a post on Instagram to say his life 'took a complete left turn', and his fiancée Amanda Abbington has since revealed Goodwin, 42, 'fell 30 feet and lost a kidney, broke both shoulder blades [and] shattered both legs' as a result of the incident, as well as suffering third degree burns, a broken spine and a severed spinal cord.

In an appearance on the Out To Lunch podcast with Jay Rayner, Sherlock actor Abbington said Goodwin nearly died both immediately after the accident and again on the operating table, and said he is now paralysed and in a wheelchair.

"Unless there's a kind of stem cell surgery or that thing that Elon Musk is designing with the little chip, he'll be like that forever," Abbington said.

Goodwin wowed both the Britain's Got Talent judges and audience when he first appeared on the talent show in 2019 and successfully freed himself from a jacket while both hanging upside down and set on fire.

He ultimately came eighth in the competition, but continued to perform until the accident took place last October.

In spite of Goodwin's injuries, Abbington said her fiancé has remained 'positive and upbeat and so strong', adding: "His courage and his strength is something that I just aspire to be like.

"He's just incredible, honestly, like so happy, just like a very happy, positive human being, just liquid sunshine. He's amazing."

Abbington also told Rayner that Goodwin had sent her a voicemail before his surgery to explain there was a 50 percent chance he would not survive. He told her he loved her, and thanked her for the last couple of months of his life with her.

In his Instagram post after the accident, Goodwin thanked those who had sent their love and support and said the most important thanks went to Abbington, who he described as 'the best thing to ever happen' to him.

"I have been to the very brink and dodged the worst that a human being can, without fear…because I was protected by love," he wrote.

Abbington and Goodwin plan to get married this summer.