{"id":560123,"date":"2025-11-09T21:18:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560123\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:18:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:18:16","slug":"strictly-come-dancings-harry-aikines-aryeetey-shares-fears-over-hidden-health-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560123\/","title":{"rendered":"Strictly Come Dancing&#8217;s Harry Aikines-Aryeetey shares fears over hidden health condition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Strictly Come Dancing star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has opened up about a health condition that he has suffered with since birth, and how it has impacted his time on the BBC show<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Strictly-Come-Dancing-Halloween-Special.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer \" loading=\"eager\"  \/>Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has admitted how he worried that a health condition would &#8220;work against&#8221; him on the show(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Strictly Come Dancing star <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/harry-aikines-aryeetey\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Harry Aikines-AryeeteyLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Harry Aikines-Aryeetey<\/a> has opened up about his worries that a lifelong health condition might &#8220;work against&#8221; him on the <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/bbc\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">BBC<\/a> programme.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Following his rise to prominence while representing Great Britain in the Commonwealth games, Harry has more recently become known for his role as Nitro on Gladiators.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">But speaking on the Parenting Hell podcast, he shared with presenters Rob Beckett and Josh Widdicombe his fears that a medical condition could impact his performance in this year&#8217;s <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/strictly-come-dancing\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Strictly Come DancingLink opens in a new tab.\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Strictly Come Dancing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Reflecting on Harry&#8217;s Strictly journey, which included appearing in 2024&#8217;s <a class=\"TextLink_text-link__dBSS0 TextLink_enabled__dJF3l\" href=\"https:\/\/www.walesonline.co.uk\/all-about\/christmas\" target=\"\" aria-label=\"\" tabindex=\"0\" rel=\"noopener\">Christmas<\/a> Special alongside Josh, the comedian noted how Harry would shine in routines demanding greater physical power, but quipped he might be &#8220;too stiff for the romantic numbers&#8221; because of his muscular build.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762723094_365_0_Strictly-Come-Dancing-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer during their Halloween week performance(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">The 37-year-old responded: &#8220;These are things I&#8217;m scared of. These muscles are actually going to work against me.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">He then revealed details about a health condition he has lived with from birth: &#8220;I&#8217;ve actually got a deficiency of myostatin. That&#8217;s one of the reasons why I build muscle a lot. So that is just a genetic makeup.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Myostatin deficiency is a condition where the body has difficulty producing myostatin protein, leading to significantly increased muscle mass and minimal fat. As a result, individuals with low or no myostatin often have larger than average muscles.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/0_Athletics-Olympics-Day-13.jpg\" alt=\"RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - AUGUST 18:  Harry Aikines-Aryeetey of Great Britain reacts during round one of the Men's 4 x 100m Relay on Day 13 of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium on August 18, 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  (Photo by Ian Walton\/Getty Images)\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>He has suffered with condition since he was born(Image: Ian Walton, Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">This condition is incredibly rare, with some estimates suggesting that as few as one in four million people are diagnosed with it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Despite his medical condition, Harry has been wowing fans with his performances in the competition. Last night, he and his dance partner Karen Hauer performed an American Smooth.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Regrettably, the judges had mixed feelings about their routine, resulting in a score of just 30 points. This placed them second from bottom on the leaderboard.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762723096_681_0_Strictly-Come-Dancing-2025.jpg\" alt=\"Harry Aikines-Aryeetey and Karen Hauer\" loading=\"lazy\"  \/>Harry and Karen were awarded a score of 26 last night(Image: PA)<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\">Outside of the competition, Harry has an impressive sporting career. He has represented Team GB at the Olympics and won several European and Commonwealth relay gold medals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\" publication=\"walesonline\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Strictly Come Dancing: The Results is set to return this evening (9 November) 7.10 pm on BBC One.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Strictly Come Dancing star Harry Aikines-Aryeetey has opened up about a health condition that he has suffered with&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560124,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[192,77,121215,1888,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-560123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-harry-aikines-aryeetey","11":"tag-strictly-come-dancing","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115521828933700150","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}