Former Strictly Come Dancing star Stacey Dooley opened up about the “gruesome” procedure she witnessed while investigating wellness trends for her new BBC show
Stacey Dooley is back with a new BBC documentary
Stacey Dooley has disclosed that she nearly passed out at the sight of blood while filming her latest BBC series. The Strictly Come Dancing star presents Clickbait Clinic, working alongside Dr Alex George and Dr Nighat Arif, to examine wellness trends to establish which are fraudulent and which might genuinely be transformative.
In the opening episode, the 39-year-old delves into the rising looksmaxxing phenomenon, where individuals undergo leg-breaking procedures in pursuit of gaining additional inches in height. Reflecting on witnessing the shocking surgery in Miami, Stacey described it as so “gruesome” that she nearly experienced an “embarrassing” incident while cameras were rolling.
“It was pretty graphic,” she told BBC Radio 2. “There’s this kind of appetite, a desire for purely aesthetic purposes is what we’re interested in, where people pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to have their legs lengthened.
“The procedure involves breaking both legs, like snap.”
After presenter OJ Borg remarked that the surgeon appeared to have “a toolbox”, Stacey continued: “It was like banging this bone with a hammer.”
She elaborated: “And I hadn’t eaten and we flown in and I hadn’t really slept and you know when you’re sort of feeling a bit giddy anyway and there was so much blood, it was so gruesome and I thought, ‘I’m going to go over’ and that’s really embarrassing, so I sort of kept a bit of a distance.”
Discussing the “fascinating” procedure further, Stacey explained that those who have the surgery must relearn how to walk over approximately six months, with some patients even coming back for additional operations.
Stacey continued by acknowledging that while some might query why patients choose “unnecessary procedures” that can bring “all different complications”, she recognised the insecurities driving their choices.
During the same interview, the mother-of-one revealed her own health ambitions ahead of turning 40 in March. Currently maintaining a daily routine of walking and running, she told OJ: “I really want to feel the business, 40 is around the corner.
“When I hit 40, what a treat, what a privilege, I wanna go for it, I’m going to town. If I’m serious about it, I could really be fighting fit.”
The presenter is mum to three-year-old daughter Minnie, whom she shares with former Strictly Come Dancing professional Kevin Clifton. The pair met on the programme back in 2018 when they claimed the Glitterball trophy.
Earlier this year, the couple brought their daughter to Blackpool and visited the iconic Tower Ballroom, where they once performed a Salsa to Gina G’s Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit), which started with Stacey descending from ceiling on a giant stick of Blackpool rock.
Clickbait Clinic with Stacey Dooley airs tonight at 8.30pm on BBC One
