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Shirley Ballas offers update on ‘whirlwind’ testosterone diagnosis

The Strictly judge said she initially ignored viewers’ advice to have a lump checked.
The Strictly judge said she initially ignored viewers’ advice to have a lump checked. The Strictly judge said she initially ignored viewers’ advice to have a lump checked.

Shirley Ballas has described the last two weeks as a “whirlwind” after she was found to have an abnormally high level of testosterone.

The Strictly Come Dancing judge, 61, is due to have a scan of all her organs at King’s College London on Friday after viewers noticed a lump under her arm during a broadcast of the BBC One show.

The former dancer was later told by her doctor following tests that the level of testosterone in her body is “the highest she’s seen in a female”.

Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, Ballas said: “The last two weeks have been like a whirlwind with everything else I have been doing.

“But I was doing an ole paso doble move, put up my right arm, one or two people got in touch. I kind of ignored it. And then there were about 11 people so I thought I had better go to the doctor.

Strictly Come Dancing 2019
Strictly Come Dancing 2019 The judges of Strictly Come Dancing (Guy Levy/BBC/PA)

“So I went off to see my doctor, Doctor Leonard. She had a little feel around, she couldn’t feel anything.

“But she had some past blood tests from a few months before – I hadn’t gone back for the results, my fault – so she re-did all my bloods last week and she was alarmed by the testosterone levels, the lack of oestrogen levels and other things that were going on.”

Ballas said she expects to get her scan results back within a week to 10 days.

She told GMB co-hosts Susanna Reid and Richard Madeley she is not dwelling on the potential health impacts of high testosterone.

“I try not to worry because it is so busy and there are other things and people are relying on me,” she added.

“So just every single day I keep moving forward. I don’t dwell on it because it will be what it will be.”