Shirley finds a leading man
ON Strictly, Shirley Ballas often accuses male contestants of not taking the lead.
But the show’s head judge was glad not to be able to make that complaint about one hapless bystander while she was out walking her dog.
The unlucky man found himself being instructed to take the lead... of her pet lhasa apso Charlie, while she popped into a shop.
Miss Ballas, 61, who wore a grey tracksuit and trainers, had been struggling for somewhere to tie up the pet as they strolled in south-east London.
So she was grateful to find a stranger willing to look after Charlie as she spent around ten minutes buying groceries in the store, which does not allow dogs. The outing last week came before Miss Ballas underwent an underarm and breast test after Strictly fans claimed to have spotted a lump during the show.
She updated fans on her health in an Instagram video, where she revealed that although a doctor found nothing, she will be having an ‘overhaul’ after discovering that her hormone levels are ‘all over the place’.
She said: ‘Apparently my testosterone is that of a man and my oestradiol is zero.’
She captioned the post: ‘I will be popping to the hospital Friday for full blood work, hormones could be the reason for exhaustion, sleepless nights and a few more things going on,’ then urged women followers to ‘keep checking yourself’.
Miss Ballas, who has a family history of breast cancer, added: ‘I got some alarming messages from people saying that when I picked my arm up they could see lumps or bumps.
‘To those people that were concerned enough to message me saying you could see lumps and bumps... thank you.’
Oestradiol is one of three oestrogens and is involved in the regulation of the female reproductive system.
Levels of the hormone naturally decline as women age and decrease significantly during the menopause.
Too little oestradiol in adults can lead to the bone condition osteoporosis.