Before Saturday’s live performance in Blackpool, Shirley Ballas, a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, choked on a fish bone and “couldn’t breathe” for twenty minutes.
The chief judge of the show wrote on Instagram about the “terrifying” experience, saying, “I really thought that was it.”
She commended Jane Green, her hair and makeup artist, for being prepared, willing, and capable of using the Heimlich procedure to remove the obstruction.
“I choked earlier on a fishbone,” Ballas said. “My amazing Jane, who has been with me for nine years, performed the Heimlich procedure after it became stuck in my throat, and we were able to remove the bone. However, it was terrible for twenty minutes because it was lodged and I was unable to breathe.”
Strictly would “have been a judge down tonight if it wasn’t for her,” she joked.
“I’m grateful to Jane because I panicked,” Ballas said. I genuinely believed that was the end, amen.
The 65-year-old TV presenter and dancer from Liverpool added in a different post, “Almost didn’t make it to the desk last night, I had a fishbone stuck.”
She informed her fans that she was “a bit hoarse, but all is good” in a subsequent message.
Additionally, she promised to learn how to do the Heimlich procedure, which entails thrusting the abdomen from behind, “in case I ever come across anybody who needs my help.”