AJ Prichard fought back tears as he detailed the horrific ordeal of seeing ‘someone he loves on fire’ after his girlfriend Abbie Quinnen was engulfed in flames.
The former Strictly professional, 26, described how a YouTube video went ‘horribly wrong’ and his girlfriend, 23, ‘caught alight so fast’, while trying to forge a vase out of a wine bottle bottle using fire.
AJ told Lorraine on Tuesday how he sat outside the hospital all night after being banned from enterting due to Covid restrictions, after rushing his partner to A&E following the terrifying accident.
Harrowing: AJ Prichard fought back tears as he detailed the horrific ordeal of seeing ‘someone he loves on fire’ after his girlfriend Abbie Quinnen was engulfed in flames.
Holding back the tears, he said: ‘I sat outside the hospital all night, knowing she wasn’t going to even come out that night, knowing it was very serious.
AJ, who appeared on the show alongside his brother Curtis, 25, added: ‘I was outside the hospital just sat there. I didn’t know what to do.
‘Curtis was telling me to go home because she wasn’t going to be coming out yet.
‘I just couldn’t leave her side, even though I couldn’t go into the hospital because of COVID. I just waited for her.
Horrendous: The former Strictly professional, 26, described how a YouTube video went ‘horribly wrong’ and his girlfriend, 23, ‘caught alight so fast’, while trying to forge a vase out of a wine bottle using fire
‘She ended up staying in hospital for five nights, moving from the intensive care unit at Ealing to the burns unit at Chelsea and Westminster.’
Since the incident – which happened on January 19 – Abbie has undergone three skin grafts and doctors are unsure about what exactly her recovery will look like.
During the interview on Tuesday, AJ admitted the possibility of laser treatment to help heal certain areas has been discussed.
But for now, medics have dubbed her Super Abbie because she is ‘healing fantastically’, following the harrowing ordeal.
Worrying: AJ told Lorraine on Tuesday how he sat outside the hospital all night after being banned from enterting due to Covid restrictions
Detailing her recent progress, AJ revealed: ‘Abbie is upstairs. I just want to say, for Abbie, for both of us, the love and support that has come through over these past few days is really what keeps both of us so positive and honestly it’s so nice to have so much positivity in a world that feels quite overwhelming at the moment.’
Speaking of the incident, AJ went on: ‘The thing was, to turn a wine bottle into a vase. There’s a tutorial to just follow online and unfortunately it went horribly wrong. I think what’s really scary is that her clothes caught light, her hair caught light and it all happened so fast, yet felt like a lifetime of a scenario.’
On how he responded to the situation, AJ said: ‘When it happened, I think the most upsetting thing is seeing your loved one, someone you love, on fire and being, what felt like so helpless in such a moment.
‘As soon as the fire on her body, on her hair, on her skin was out we covered her in damp towels, we called 999, we did everything we thought was the right thing to do and to get her to A&E as soon as possible.
AJ, who appeared on the show alongside his brother Curtis, 25, added: ‘I was outside the hospital just sat there. I didn’t know what to do’
‘Thankfully, Curtis was here to help. Abbie was in shock, I was trying to keep Abbie calm, Curtis was trying to keep me calm and get us both to the hospital.
AJ continued: ‘And I think what was really overwhelming to me was as soon as I was handing her over to people that I knew were going to help, which were the nurses at Ealing Hospital, for me emotionally…
‘I was just absolutely torn and being so calm and collected when it was happening, trying to go through all what was the right thing to do but then as soon as I handed her over I sat outside and I remember the night so vividly.’
Curtis revealed: ‘I was upstairs and I knew they were creating this video. I heard the fire alarm go off and I just came downstairs. I just remember opening the door and there was glass on the floor and the door just slightly jammed, and I saw AJ there.
‘I said, “Is everything alright?” and he said, “No” and I knew straight away that something had happened. I didn’t know what at the time, so I quickly put my shoes on straight away, went straight in and AJ had done everything he possibly could do.
‘He was on the phone, he was trying to call 111 trying to get through to everybody and then we decided straight away – Abbie was sat down, they were both very calm but in shock – and so we just decided that we had got to get them to hospital.
‘So I drove them straight to hospital and then we just waited outside. We didn’t know what was going on straight away.’
Speaking to his brother, Curtis reiterated: ‘You did everything you could do to make her in the best situation.’
Recovery: Since the incident – which happened on January 19 – Abbie has undergone three skin grafts and doctors are unsure about what exactly her recovery will look like
AJ added: ‘I think the one thing within this time, usually you would be at somebody’s side, you’d be able to hold their hand, you’d be able to do things… You wanna hug people to help in these scenarios – and all we could do was be that lifeline on the phone. Being in contact with her.
‘If she wanted something, get it for her. For someone who likes to help and do as much as I possibly could, I felt like my hands were tied. My only way of support was to keep talking to her all night.’
Curtis said: ‘And you kept going to drop overnight bags to hospital… so you were constantly doing stuff for the situation.’