Krishnan Guru-Murthy explains reason for doing Strictly after years of saying no

11 September 2023 , 06:00

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Krishnan Guru-Murthy explains reason for doing Strictly after years of saying no

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has revealed the reason why he said 'yes' to Strictly Come Dancing this 2023 after years of turning down the hit BBC One dance show.

The Channel 4 newsreader, 53, who has a genetic heart condition - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is one of 15 celebrities taking to the BBC dance floor this autumn in a bid to lift the coveted Glitterball trophy. However, Krishnan has had multiple opportunities to appear on the hit series but it's only this year he has felt ready to take part.

Speaking to The Mirror and other press ahead of the show's launch, Krishnan said: "Something changed this year, it was kind of a feeling. The news has been through a very, very grim period - the pandemic, political chaos, the war in Ukraine and my life has been really, really serious in quite an intense way. I genuinely thought it would be great to have some pure joy in my life.

Krishnan Guru-Murthy has revealed the reason why he said 'yes' to Strictly Come Dancing this 2023 after years of turning down the hit BBC One dance show (BBC/Ray Burmiston)

The Channel 4 newsreader, 53, is one of 15 celebrities (PA)

"This is just fun and laughter and joy and learning something new that kind of takes your mind totally away from everything else. You can't think about... I mean, you can't think at all. So you can't think about anything else when you're doing this. They'd asked me so many times before and I'd said no, and I suddenly thought: 'You're an idiot. Why aren't you doing this? You know, this is great!'"

Talking about how training has been going so far, Krishnan joked he has already been to see the physio. He said: "Oh, I've already been to see the physio but that's just because I wake up with a sore back anyway every day!" It comes after Krishnan revealed his doctor's chilling reply to him "dropping dead live on Strictly".

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The newsreader has the genetic heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which led to the death of two cousins. But he says he came to the realisation he needed to do the BBC show now or he would be "too decrepit" to take part. His wife Lisa backed his decision to get out of his comfort zone and try something new.

Krishnan said: "I even asked my cardiologist if I might drop dead live on BBC1. 'No', was his answer. But he couldn’t give me an absolute guarantee. I have to be careful of raising my heartbeat into the red zone; that final 15%. I shouldn’t go there. It’s where people with my condition drop dead." He has since revealed show medics will have a defibrillator on standby when he makes his dance floor debut.

Olivia Wheeler