Strictly Come Dancing 's Shirley Ballas said she "almost didn't make it" after choking minutes before the live Blackpool show.

Before the show hosted at the iconic Blackpool Tower kicked off, Shirley, 65, was struggling to breathe as she recalled the "terrifying" moment to fans . The head judge said the panel would have been a 'judge down' if it wasn't for her hairstylist, Jane, who was forced to do the Heimlich manoeuvre.

Speaking in a video to her followers, she said: “I choked on a fishbone. It got lodged in my throat, and my wonderful Jane, who has been with me for nine years, did the Heimlich manoeuvre, and we got the bone out. But for 20 minutes there, it was lodged and I couldn’t breathe, so it was terrifying.”

Wirral-born Shirley added as she shared a video to her Instagram

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