TV presenter admits she 'would have sunk' without Strictly Come Dancing

Daily Mirror

a day ago

Annabel Croft, the former professional tennis player who won the San Diego Open in 1985, lost her Mel Coleman to stomach cancer in May 2023, months before her Strictly Come Dancing adventure
TV presenter Annabel Croft says Strictly Come Dancing"saved her" following the death of her husband.
Tragedy struck when the former professional tennis player's spouse Mel Coleman died in May 2023 after a short battle with stomach cancer. The couple married in 1993 after Mel, a professional yachtsman, taught Annabel how to sail for a TV programme.
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The grief hit Annabel, 58, hard, particularly as she and Mel had planned to retire and downsize in southwest London. It was only when she agreed to - and lasted 10 weeks on - Strictly Come Dancing that Annabel, who won the San Diego Open in 1985, felt she could tackle her bereavement.
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Speaking to The Telegraph this week, the TV and radio host said: "I don't know what I would have done without being busy. I would have sunk... Literally within a few weeks [of losing him] I was on the phone to my agent. He said, 'I've signed you up to Strictly. You're giving an interview tomorrow because they are announcing it'."
Following the series, in which Annabel came fourth, the grief became less raw. The former tennis star said the pain now "comes in rain showers but they are getting less and then it's gone". She added: "I didn't know I had an incredible marriage, but I did."
Now, Annabel is a pundit on tennis coverage across Eurosport, Sky Sports and the BBC and she is also expecting her first grandchild as her oldest daughter Amber Rose is pregnant.
And the presenter is downsizing - two years on from her original plans with Mel. She is moving within London but wants to live near the River Thames as Mel always hoped to be beside the water.
"There is so much to be positive about. I don't want to be a professional widow. I understand that a lot of people can identify with what I've been through, but I don't want grief to define me," Annabel, who won Celebrity Wrestling on ITV in 2005, said.
"Strictly was so helpful to me. I realised how much I loved dancing and I've wondered whether I went down the wrong path [with tennis] when I might have been a dancer instead."
During her time on Strictly, Annabel was paired with Johannes Radebe. The pair developed a quick rapport and remain friends now. Annabel, host of the original Treasure Hunt on Channel 4, continued: "He's part of the family now. We are bonded for life."
The star, who retired from tennis at just 21 in 1988, is to begin a speaking tour across the UK on September 25, reflecting on her incredible sporting career and describing the very personal and moving journey she has been on in recent times.