MasterChef alum Julie Goodwin ‘devastated’ by injury on Dancing with the Stars

Celebrity chef Julie Goodwin suffered a “blindingly painful” injury moments before she was set to perform on Dancing With The stars that left her unable to stand.

Celebrity chef and MasterChef winner Julie Goodwin might have gone down on Dancing With The Stars, but she’s not counting herself out.

The Grade 2 calf muscle tear Goodwin sustained moments before her first performance “was so sudden and brutal that it took my breath away,” she told Confidential on Sunday: “It was devastating. I’m absolutely gutted.”

The recommended recovery time before returning to “full activity” is three to six weeks, but Goodwin said she’s “pretty stubborn”.

“In TV land there’s two weeks between the first and second dance in two groups, so I have ‘two weeks’ to recover. In real life, I have six days.”

Famous cook Julie Goodwin tore her calf muscle on Dancing With The Stars, but the MasterChef alum said she hasn’t given up on rejoining the competition. Picture: Rohan Kelly/Daily Telegraph

Moments before her episode one jive performance, the 53-year-old was running through a final rehearsal with her partner, Russian dance champion Andrey Gorbunov.

“I have to do a run on the spot and launch myself towards Andre, who picks me up,” Goodwin said. “Lucky he’s nice and strong. I launched off that an landed like a pack of spuds.”

This came after an intensive training schedule, which included going to the gym five times a week and swimming three or four times a week in the two months leading up to filming.

Calf muscle tears can be caused by quick pivots, jumps, or abrupt stops in sports when the calf is suddenly overstretched.

MasterChef winner Julie Goodwin falling during her jive practice on Dancing With The Stars 2024. Picture: Supplied/Channel 7

“Honest to god I’ve had a few injuries in my time, but this was the worst. It’s extremely painful. When it first happened, I couldn’t straighten or put my foot flat on the floor and needed to be carried.”

Julie Goodwin said the injury is “extremely painful”. Picture: Supplied/Channel 7

The celebrity cookbook author shot to national fame after winning the inaugural season of Network Ten’s MasterChef Australia in 2009.

However, the mum of three was secretly battling mental health demons her star rose, which culminated in a mid-range drink driving offence in 2018 and an attempt on her own life two years later.

Goodwin went public with her struggles in April during an interview on The Project in which the star chef revealed two passer-bys likely saved her life.

Julie Goodwin had six days to recover from her calf muscle injury in real-time, which appears as two weeks on Dancing With The Stars. Picture: Rohan Kelly/Daily Telegraph.

Julie Goodwin is competing on Dancing With The Stars. Picture: Rohan Kelly

She shuttered her cooking school and departed her Central Coast breakfast radio gig to approach “remaining good” after a 2020 admission to a mental health unit.

“I decided to go on the show because it’s completely outside of my uncoordinated comfort zone,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“I’ve found that when I go outside my comfort zone, that I usually have a really good time. Life if short, so why not give things a crack?”

The chef added that “regardless of what happens with this leg, I will never regret saying yes.”