“My Kitchen Rules” contestant Harry Curtis has been seriously injured after diving off a bollard at a Melbourne beach on Tuesday. He will be seen competing with his friend Christo Gibson against other pairs in the upcoming season of the Channel 7 reality show, but for now, he will have to undergo surgery on his fractured vertebrae.

According to the Herald Sun, Curtis, 25, was with his mates at the Sandringham beach in Bayside Melbourne when the accident happened. His friends had been jumping from the bollard, but he opted for a riskier stunt and dived off.

He was put in a serious but stable condition in the hospital after fracturing two vertebrae in his neck. He is set to undergo delicate surgery on Friday in the Alfred Hospital in Prahran.

“He is in a lot of pain, they have to fuse two discs together,” his mother Sarah Curtis was quoted by the paper as saying.

A spokesman from Channel 7 added, “Harry was transferred to the Alfred Hospital where he remains in a serious but stable condition, and he will undergo surgery tomorrow.

“His spinal cord was not damaged.”

Curtis’ accident will not affect the production of the show as he and the other contestants have already filmed the series.

“My Kitchen Rules” will return for its fifth series on January 27 on Channel 7.