Bruce Forsyth, who presented Strictly Come Dancing from its launch in 2004 until 2014, disclosed that the demands of hosting the live show were so exhausting that he needed the entire following day to recuperate. The late entertainer, who died in 2017 at the age of 89, revealed he would spend all of Sunday in bed to recover from each episode.
Hosting Duties and Recovery
Forsyth co-presented both the main show and the results show alongside Tess Daly until 2010, when he stepped down from the results programme. Claudia Winkleman then took over that role and later succeeded Forsyth on the main show in 2014. During his time on Strictly, Forsyth regularly commuted between the BBC studios in White City, where the show was filmed, and his home in Surrey.
In 2009, Forsyth told Yours Magazine about his Sunday routine, explaining that the adrenaline from the live broadcast kept him from sleeping in. He described getting up at 6am, making porridge, and watching Match of the Day before returning to bed for several hours.
A Day of Rest and Television
Forsyth detailed his typical Sunday, which involved watching television until around 9.30am, going back to bed, getting up for lunch, and then returning to bed afterwards to watch football and golf. In the evening, he would get up for an hour to have a cup of tea before going back to bed for a normal night's sleep.
He added that this was his routine while doing Strictly and that by Monday mornings he felt "as good as new."
Later Years and Passing
Three years after leaving the show, Forsyth died after contracting bronchial pneumonia, following a period of declining health after keyhole surgery in 2015, when he was diagnosed with two aortic aneurysms.
Announcing his death, his family said he passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his wife Wilnelia and all his children. They recounted that when a friend asked what he had been doing over the previous eighteen months, Forsyth responded with a twinkle in his eye that he had been "very, very busy... being ill!" His health deteriorated shortly after, and he contracted bronchial pneumonia.
