Strictly star Les Dennis' hidden heartache over co-star death hours before axe

05 October 2023 , 08:40

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Strictly star Les Dennis' hidden heartache over co-star death hours before axe

Strictly Come Dancing star Les Dennis has opened up about his grief after discovering his friend and former co-star sadly passed away. Les, 69, was told the devastating news just hours before he became the first star of the 2023 Strictly series to be eliminated.

It was a difficult day for Les, who discovered that Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels actor Jake Abraham passed away at the age of 56 following his battle with cancer.

Before his elimination from the BBC show, Les took to Twitter a number of hours before to share his condolences with Jake's loved ones as he retweeted a post from another account, which read: "Liverpool legend #JakeAbraham has sadly passed away to f*****g cancer. I saw Jake around Liverpool over the years what a lovely person he was. RIP Jake."

Sharing his own experiences with Jake, Les then chimed in: "Did a play - The Miracle of Great Homer Street- at the @RoyalCourtLiv with Jake. Loved him, both as an actor and a man. Will miss you Jake. Thanks for the laughs. RIP."

Strictly star Les Dennis devastated as he discovered death of co-star hours before axe (Ken McKay/ITV/REX/Shutterstock)

Jake passed away at the age of 56 after a battle with prostate cancer (LA Productions)

Before his death, Jake had revealed that he knew that something wasn't quite right for a while with his health, but he had left it too late and by the time he went to the doctor, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Jake admitted in the heartbreaking post that the prostate cancer, had spread to his spine, hips and bladder.

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Along with grieving his friend, Les was dealt another blow when he discovered that he was the first celebrity to leave Strictly Come Dancing after his performances with Nancy Xu failed to impress the judges and viewers at home.

Les and his pro partner Nancy received a measly 15 points for their underwhelming performance of the Samba, which left them in the bottom two against DJ Nikita Kanda and Gorka Márquez. Unfortunately, the TV host couldn't save himself or Nancy in the dreaded dance-off, with the judges unanimously voting to give the much improved Nikita another shot in the competition.

Although he was disappointed to leave the show so soon, Les pointed out that he was happy to have shed a staggering 20lbs since joining thanks to all the training. "I've lost 20lbs. I'm feeling really happy about it," he told Heat before his debut performance on Saturday night. "Now I'm a bit thinner, I don't mind whacking a few more sequins on. Nothing sheer, though. This does go out before the watershed."

This is far from the first time that Les has spoken about his weight loss journey, which began back in 2017 after a bout of laryngitis forced him to reassess his health. The Liverpudlian actor learned that he was pre-diabetic during the check-up for his swollen vocal chords, and quickly realized that he needed to make a major change if he wanted to extend his life expectancy.

"It was like an alarm bell. I knew that I had to take stock of my health," he told the Sun. Determined to avoid becoming diabetic, Les ditched his dinners of takeaway pizza and Wagamama's and embraced a nutritious Mediterranean diet instead. Fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish, beans, nuts and seeds became staples in his meals, and he drastically reduced his red meat and alcohol consumption. The new habits have done wonders for his health, helping him trim down from nearly 15 to 12 stone and reverse his pre-diabetic status.

Les now sees his laryngitis as a blessing in disguise, as it forced him to confront his health issues sooner rather than later. "Luckily, I caught it early enough to say, 'Right, here we go, I have to do something'. It has made me take responsibility for my own health," he said.

Susan Knox