Strictly Come Dancing winner Darren Gough has revealed he was told he might not survive a scorpion sting during a South African safari.
The ex England cricket star received the worrying warning on holiday after being pricked in the night while in bed with his wife Anna.
However, the 47-year-old dance champ – who waltzed off with the Glitterball Trophy in 2005 – faced a terrifying wait to see how his body would react as he didn’t see what type of scorpion it was that nipped him.
That’s because if the venom of certain kinds of scorpion had been injected into Darren, he would not have made it alive to the nearest hospital to receive treatment.
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But despite how grave the situation could have been, it seems Darren’s wife was fairly relaxed about it all as it apparently didn’t affect her night’s sleep.
He recalled on talkSPORT: “I was told that as we didn’t know which type of scorpion it was, you couldn’t tell if it was the fatal sort or not.
“We were too far from a hospital for treatment even if they scrambled a helicopter it would take 40 minutes to reach us – I would be dead on arrival.
“So I just sat there and waited. The missus just turned over and went back to sleep.”
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Darren – who has also starred on Hole in the Wall and The Jump – continued: “I had hit the scorpion with my phone, but it was on the bed so it did it no harm. It must have just been like a giant trampoline for the bug.
“I spent 30 minutes looking for it, but didn’t see it again.”
Thankfully the scorpion proved to be a non-fatal type – but it still left its mark on the former fast bowler.
“I can still feel the lump where it got me more than a week later,” Darren told listeners.
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