I'll do anything for MY GRANDKIDS!

Arlene Phillips tells us about her recent brush with COVID, and the loves of her life

- VICKI POWER

Former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips looks fighting fit. She's a poster girl for septuagenarians, a shining example of vibrancy and dynamism, who looks much younger than her 78 years. She has also slimmed down, losing more than a stone in the past few months: a weight loss that began while she was on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! last November, subsisting mostly of a diet of rice and beans. She was the oldest camp-mate they'd had on the show.

But looks can be deceptive. Arlene reveals she's suffering the lingering side effects of a nasty bout of COVID in March.

'It was bad. For five days, I was completely sick in bed - and I never take to my bed,' she says. 'But I could not get up. I had a cold, a cough and a fever, and had a hard time breathing. I was exhausted and I could hardly walk. I also had a weird burning sensation in the back of my right leg from the ankle to the calf it was like needles and the most bizarre thing.'

Although hard worker Arlene is back on the job she's the creative director on the musical, The Cher Show, working with choreographer and ex Strictly pro Oti Mabuse - she admits that it's been tough-going. Arlene is still really tired and feels like she has 'a permanent cold' and has lost her appetite. I've lost masses of weight,' she confesses. 'I'm down to my dancing weight.'