Strictly staff forced to perform the Heimlich manoeuvre on Shirley Ballas after she started choking moments before show begins

The artist, who took to the dance floor in her metallic ivory dress and gold stilettos, waved to the camera and shook her shoulders while the band played.

With the kick of her leg and the movement of her skirt, Shirley Ballas made her way to the Strictly Come Dancing judges’ table, where she sat in her chair and threw her head back in laughter.

It was the biggest night of the series; The head judge of the annual Blackpool extravaganza and BBC show knew millions up and down the country would be watching.

The former Latin Queen sat center stage on Saturday night with the unwavering confidence she’s often criticized for, ready to offer her unfiltered critiques of this year’s remaining contestants.

But just minutes before her impassioned entrance, Shirley suffered a life-threatening medical emergency as a result of choking on a fish bone; One of his team had to perform the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge the bone.

While such a dramatic event would be reason for any telly star to retire from live television, Shirley soldiered on with a defiant smile on her face and not a wrinkle in her £575 Georgia Hardinge dress.

It was the latest in a series of blows to her personal life in the past year, including the breakdown of her six-year relationship with Danny Taylor and the deterioration of her elderly mother’s health.

But Shirley refuses to let her constant bad luck and barrage of criticism from viewers affect her role in the show and will do anything to protect it, sources have told the Daily Mail.

Danny Taylor and Shirley Ballas, who were in a relationship for six years (filmed in 2022), called it quits in 2024

“Shirley absolutely lives and breathes the ‘keep dancing’ mantra, there’s almost nothing that would make her skip an episode of the show,” a TV insider said.

‘She’s had a tough 12-month journey but it makes her more determined than ever to protect her image and keep the Strictly ship as steady as possible.’

On screen, Shirley is the picture of ballroom glamour, with her endless conveyor belt of couture dresses, perfectly dried hair and spotless makeup.

But when she’s not at the BBC studios, the former dancer lives with and cares for her mother Audrey, 88, who was diagnosed with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in 2022.

The couple live at Shirley’s home in Dulwich, south London, but she recently admitted her fear of leaving her mother to go to work.

“My mum is a smoker and for the last three years I’ve seen her go out of breath,” she told BBC Radio Manchester earlier this week.

‘I witnessed him being really bad. ‘I was in front of him when he couldn’t breathe and suffocated because his airways were blocked.’

But her medical emergency was the latest in a series of blows last year, including her mother’s poor health and the breakdown of her relationship with Danny Taylor.

In another Instagram post she added: ‘I almost didn’t make it to the table last night.’

But despite the drama, she persevered and joined her fellow judges and welcomed Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman to the dance floor for the Strictly special.

He added: ‘We only go out once a week now, it’ll be for two or three hours. ‘He doesn’t mind going out, he just prefers to be at home, which is a bit sad.’

While she’s at work, Shirley often enlists her personal assistant to look after Audrey, and he sends her updates on how she’s doing.

‘I worry about him all the time,’ he said.

‘My lovely PA now looks after him while I’m away from work most of the time. But she will send me messages that she is climbing on the stool and cleaning the ornaments.

‘Last winter he got so sick I couldn’t go to work.’

Despite her flirtatious interactions with male contestants on Strictly, Shirley admitted her own love life was non-existent following her split from Danny at the end of last year.

After failed marriages to dancers Sammy Stopford and Corky Ballas, Shirley thought she had met her soul mate in the cameo role.

But things came to a head when the 52-year-old artist, 13 years his junior, ‘disappeared’ on his 64th birthday, triggering memories of his brother’s suicide a few years earlier.

Danny knew the relationship was over when he showed up again the next day and acted like nothing had happened.

‘I will never forget that day until I die. “I remember looking across the street at midnight and seeing my mother so upset, reliving all her trauma,” she said.

Shirley put on a brave face for the Strictly live show but admitted on social media that the ‘horrific’ incident made her want to take a First Aid course

‘This can’t go on like this’ I thought. ‘Not only for my sake, but also for my mother’s sake.’

While Danny predictably moved on with another woman, Shirley remained defiantly single and said she had no desire to start another romantic relationship.

“I neither want nor need a partner,” she told Best magazine earlier this month.

‘I’ve been divorced twice and have been single since splitting from my last boyfriend, Danny Taylor.

‘I realized I’m not here to fall in love. I didn’t come to this world for this; My aim is to teach dance and help people enjoy it and reach their potential.’

He added: ‘Perhaps I have experienced too much loss to allow people to get too close; My father left me when I was two, my brother took his own life, and both of my marriages broke down.’

Shirley also had to deal with relentless attacks on her appearance, character and dancing expertise from trolls who targeted her week after week while on Strictly.

She has had to defend herself against die-hard fans of the show, who have been criticizing her for years for what they perceive as “biased” scoring against male contestants.

In 2023, the abuse went so far that she admitted she was afraid to leave the house.

“People drew coffins with me and someone with a shovel said, ‘Die, you bitch,'” she told Olivia Attwood in her ITV documentary about trolling.

‘I never relax. I can say that it completely changed my life.’

So it was at the end of this chaotic year when Shirley realized she ‘couldn’t breathe’ for 20 minutes after getting a fishbone stuck in her throat before Saturday’s show.

She said she was ‘horrified’ during the ordeal, and if her hair and make-up artist hadn’t known about the Heimlich maneuver, it could have had a tragic ending.

‘It stuck in my throat and my wonderful Jane, who has been with me for nine years, did the Heimlich maneuver and we removed the bone,’ he said.

‘But he was stuck in there for 20 minutes and I couldn’t breathe, so it was scary.’

He added: ‘I really thought it was.’

After a year of heartbreak and health scares, one thing is certain: it will take more than a boner and a few cruel comments for Shirley Ballas to quit Strictly.