A DRAGONFLY BITE NEARLY KILLED ME
Bannatyne allergic reaction scare
TELLY Dragon Duncan Bannatyne has revealed how he was almost killed by a dragonfly.
The Dragons’ Den star was on a trip to Mexico when a dragonfly bite on his hand became infected.
The 75-year-old suffered a severe and potentially fatal allergic reaction.
He revealed: “I almost died in Mexico, just a few weeks ago.
“I got this infection in my hand. It was a bite and it’s swelling.
“There were seven couples, and a woman said ‘you have to get a doctor’.”
Duncan was on the trip with wife Nigora, 44, and she called a doctor.
He said: “I lay on the bed. He injected me into my hip and I turn on my back.
“I was lying there, he was talking to my wife and I had this dryness come up through my oesophagus. I was so dry and I couldn’t speak. And my heart started – bump, bump bump.”
Gasping, he managed to attract the attention of the medic again.
Duncan went on: “Luckily, the doctor hadn’t left the room and knew what had happened. He gave me this injection and it took it away. Then they got some pills.” Duncan said the scare made him think about his mortality.
Speaking to Dragons’ Den host Evan Davis on BBC Radio 4’s podcast The Bottom Line: Decisions that Made Me a Leader, he said: “I’m meeting someone this week who’s planning my will. “I want to put the plans in place.” The health club tycoon is estimated to be worth more than £400million but said: “It depends what the company is worth.” Duncan has six children and several grandchildren. He and first wife Gail Brodie married in 1983 and had four children together, Hollie, Abigail, Jennifer and Eve, before splitting in 1994.
He had another two with second wife Joanne McCue, Emily and Thomas, before divorcing. Duncan met former translator Nigora, from Uzbekistan, in 2015, when she was working at a London dental surgery.
He said he is now focusing on philanthropy and Operation Smile, a nonprofit organisation that helps children with cleft conditions.
■ Duncan’s full interview on BBC Radio 4’s The Bottom Line is also available on BBC Sounds from Monday and on iPlayer from today.