{"id":195398,"date":"2025-11-23T03:51:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:51:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/195398\/"},"modified":"2025-11-23T03:51:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-23T03:51:17","slug":"strictly-come-dancings-george-clarke-heartbroken-after-health-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/195398\/","title":{"rendered":"Strictly Come Dancing’s George Clarke heartbroken after health diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Strictly Come Dancing star George Clarke has opened up about the devastating moment he almost lost his mum after she was struck down by a life-threatening brain condition<\/p>\n

Jane Lavender<\/strong> and Frankie Collins<\/strong><\/p>\n

08:00, 22 Nov 2025<\/p>\n

\"StrictlyStrictly Come Dancing star George Clarke(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Strictly Come Dancing’s George Clarke has revealed the heart-wrenching moment he nearly lost his mother to a life-threatening brain condition.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old content creator, who is part of this year’s BBC<\/a> Strictly line-up, opened up about the family trauma in 2015 when his mum was rushed into intensive care.<\/p>\n

Known as George Clarkey online, he recalled how his mother had always been “kind and giving, making cards, cakes, and chocolate bars” for him and his sister. But everything changed one day when she suddenly collapsed and was taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

“I saw her being wheeled out, and she didn’t recognise me,” he said. “That summer was filled with hospital visits as she relearned who we were. She even called me ‘Fat Boy’ for a while!”, according to the Express.<\/p>\n

Doctors diagnosed his mum with encephalitis – a severe brain inflammation that George had never heard of before. He shared how she was given just a 20 per cent chance of survival.<\/p>\n

“She lost long-term memories, her sense of taste and smell, and her sense of direction,” he added. “Despite it all, she apologised to us for what she put us through! I’m incredibly lucky to still hear her laugh.”<\/p>\n

\"TheGeorge’s world was turned upside down when his mum was rushed into intensive care(Image: TikTok)<\/p>\n

The television personality shared his experience on World Encephalitis Day to raise awareness of the condition, stressing: “It’s not a joke; it’s about recognising the challenges and showing support. Thanks for listening, and I hope this sheds light on #encephalitisawareness.”<\/p>\n

Fans flooded his post with messages of support, with one writing: “Proud of you, so hard to open up but it’s so important.”<\/p>\n

Another added: “That sounds awful, she’s such a fighter, thank you for raising awareness of this illness George.”<\/p>\n

A third wrote to him: “It must have taken a lot to share this. Thank you.”<\/p>\n

Away from the personal battles, George has been impressing viewers on Strictly alongside his professional partner, Alexis Warr.<\/p>\n

The YouTube star, who has amassed more than 600,000 subscribers and 2.3 million TikTok followers through his comedy content, made his ballroom debut during the pre-recorded launch on September 20.<\/p>\n

In the opening show of the 23rd series, it was revealed that George would be dancing with Alexis Warr, a newcomer to the UK show’s professional lineup.<\/p>\n

Alexis made her name in the United States after winning So You Think You Can Dance in 2022, becoming the first female Ballroom and Latin specialist to claim the “America’s Favourite Dancer” crown.<\/p>\n

She has since performed across America with Dancing With The Stars and appeared as part of the professional troupe before making the switch to Strictly. George celebrated their collaboration with a humorous post, joking: “What better way to reveal our secret than with a professional photo dressed as minions?”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Strictly Come Dancing star George Clarke has opened up about the devastating moment he almost lost his mum…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[3412,18,117,108445,19,17,23260],"class_list":{"0":"post-195398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-george-clarke-youtuber","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-strictly-come-dancing"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115596983778277898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}