Strictly's Sam Quek woke up bleeding hours before going live on air in health scare

Strictly Come Dancing contestant Sam Quek's time on the BBC One show has been a lot less dramatic than the birth of her second child, which she has since opened up about

Strictly star Sam Quek has shared her harrowing experience of a health scare that turned into a 'recurring nightmare'.

The former hockey player and TV presenter had a tumultuous beginning to her journey on Strictly Come Dancing, ending up joint seventh last week alongside TOWIE's Pete Wicks.

Teamed with professional dancer Nikita Kuzmin, they earned 22 points for their Charleston performance to Bob Wilson and his Varsity Rhythm Boys, marking a slight dip from their initial Foxtrot score. However, the stress of the competition pales in comparison to the terrifying events she faced while going into labour with her second child, Isaac 'Zac' Gregory.

In a candid chat with OK! Magazine, the 35 year old former Olympian previously recounted how, just a week before her due date, she was scheduled to present BBC's Morning Live but was awakened by contractions in the night. She also noticed she was bleeding.

"I woke up and felt a bit of a twinge," Sam remembered. "Those twinges gradually grew stronger and stronger and turned into contractions. I'd been having recurring nightmares that if this birth went to a C-section, I was going to haemorrhage. I just felt like something was going to go wrong for this one, I don't know why," reports the Mirror.

The sight of blood triggered panic for Sam, who is married to property entrepreneur Tom Mairs.

"Naturally, when you're pregnant and see blood, it's never a good sign," she said.

At 11am, their unease deepened when Sam learned she required an urgent C-section. "The consultant said 'just to be safe, we're going to whisk you down for an emergency C-section. We don't want to take the chance that it could be anything sinister, so we would advise getting him out'," Sam recounted.

Prioritising the baby's safety, Sam consented to the surgery but insisted on waiting for Tom to be by her side. Overwhelmed with emotion, Sam wept upon meeting Isaac, who entered the world healthily after Tom's arrival at the medical centre.

"When his little face popped up over the curtain, it was the realisation that he'd finally got here, was safe and was going to join our family of three to make it four," she expressed with joy.