Strictly star previously quit dancing after doctors found ‘hole in his heart’

Annabel NugentMon, August 24, 2026 at 7:59 AM UTC

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A heart condition forced Graeme Hall to put his dancing shoes away – but, seven years on, the TV star is preparing to return to the dancefloor as a Strictly Come Dancing contestant.

The 59-year-old, who is best known as the dog trainer on Channel 5’s Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly, suffered a stroke in 2019 after which doctors discovered a hole in his heart. Hall underwent an operation to fix the hole, but the diagnosis left him fearing that his dancing days were over.

While he is not a fully trained dancer, Hall had fallen in love with the sport after competing in several small competitions.

“I’d done a local competition called Strictly Northampton in 2012 and loved it so much that I carried it on as a hobby,” he told The Sun. Hall went on to compete in regional events held in church halls and community centres, but was forced to stop after his stroke.

“I was out of action for quite a while and I thought it had brought an end to my dancing,” Hall said.

Happily, Hall is now fully recovered and preparing to make his dancing comeback on television’s most famous dancefloor: Strictly Come Dancing.

“I’m fine now but I had to put my dance bag away – now I’ve got it out of the loft and there’s all my kit and practice trousers so I will be using those soon,” he said.

Hall went on to say that the prospect of dancing on Strictly would have seemed impossible years ago. “If you’d told me in 2019 that I was going to be taking part in the show I would have dismissed you as a fantasist,” he said.

Graeme Hall is a contestant on the new series of 'Strictly Come Dancing' (BBC)

Hall is not the first contestant to have heart troubles get in the way of dancing. In 2021, Robert Webb was forced to withdraw mid-competition from Strictly’s 19th series when the Peep Show actor began experiencing symptoms in training. His doctor advised him to step back, given that he had undergone open-heart surgery only two years earlier, in 2019.

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Reflecting on the moment in a 2025 interview, Webb said that he’d accepted the Strictly offer as “these opportunities don’t come along very often”.

“And I’d just nearly died, so I thought, ‘This is no time to be sitting on the edges. Why don’t you contribute and participate?’ he said, noting that “it all added up to a big mistake”.

Graeme Hall accompanied with six dogs (Channel 5)

Although Webb was in “quite good shape” on paper, the actor struggled with Strictly’s intense schedule. “That schedule is a law unto itself, and I just wasn’t anywhere close to being able to do that,” he said. “I don’t even know if I could now. I don’t think it’d be a very good idea.”

Hopefully Hall will not run into similar troubles during his forthcoming stint on the programme, kicking off with its pre-recorded launch episode on Saturday 19 September during which the celebrities will be paired with their celebrity partners.

“I don’t care which pro dancer I get because the bottom line is they are all brilliant,” he said, adding that he hopes to “stay in the show as long as possible”.

Hall is joined this year by stars including EastEnders actor Lacey Turner, singer Delta Goodrem, TV personality Dani Dyer, actor Jaime Winstone and footballer Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Robert Webb on ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ before he was forced to withdraw in 2021 (PA)

Celebrity hair stylist Chris Appleton, Love Island contestant Cach Mercer, TV presenter Will Best, and House of the Dragon actor Bethany Antonia will also compete for the coveted Glitterball trophy alongside Paralympian Dame Sarah Storey, Winter Olympic gold medalist Tabby Stoecker, dog expert Graeme Hall, Emmerdale’s Lawrence Robb, and football content creator John Nellis.

Strictly is undergoing some huge changes ahead of its 2026 run, with three new hosts replacing outgoing presenters Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman. Emma Willis, Josh Widdicombe and Johannes Radebe are the trio who’ll be leading proceedings when the series returns to screens next month.

They will be the show’s first line-up of three presenters since Daly and Winkleman fronted the format with Bruce Forsyth in 2013.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”