Dancing On Ice Michaela Strachan's horror health battles and ordeal with worm living under her skin
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Michaela Strachan is fighting fit as she prepares to lace up her skates and compete on Dancing On Ice, but she has been dealt some difficult blows over the years. The Springwatch presenter is competing in the ITV skating competition with professional Mark Hanretty, taking to the ice during the show’s launch on Sunday, January 12. However, a nasty injury left her on crutches just weeks before Dancing on Ice training began.
Speaking ahead of Dancing on Ice’s return, Michaela, 58, admitted that she suffered her worst injuries before she stepped foot in the rink. “I’ve got some good bruises. I actually had an injury before I got on the ice,” she said. “I sprained my ankle quite badly two months before we started. I was on crutches.”.
The TV presenter was out running with her partner, cameraman Nick Chevallier, when she injured her ankle. “I went over on my ankle and sprained it. I thought, ‘It’s alright,’ as I hobbled back down the mountain,” she said. “Meanwhile, my partner is going, ‘You’re doing Dancing on Ice! This is really not good. You’re injured before you even hit the ice.’”.
But for Michaela, who now lives in the Cape Town countryside with her family, her sprain was just one of many health obstacles she's had to overcome throughout her life. After beating anorexia in her late teens, the presenter spent her 20s battling alopecia and allergies, including chronic eczema.
"Some mornings I would have to bathe my eyes open and the irritation was so intense that I couldn't help rubbing my eyes with my fists to relieve the pain," she told the Mirror in 2013. "The excessive rubbing meant my eyes became hugely swollen and on one occasion they looked like giant red footballs – not a good look for television.".
