BBC Strictly Come Dancing star Sam Quek's famous husband and doctor's warning during childbirth

The Olympic star spent 27 hours in labour after going 11 days overdue

Olympic star Sam Quek is currently dancing up a storm on Strictly Come Dancing with partner Nikita Kuzmin. The 35-year-old former England hockey player won gold as part of the British team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Since then she has gone on to present various TV sports shows, including American football on the BBC, rugby union on Channel 5, field hockey on BT Sport, and football for Channel 4 and LFC TV. Viewers will also remember her for her stint on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2016, and Celebrity Masterchef in 2020, where she reached the final three.

In 2021, Sam became a team captain on the BBC One sports panel show, Question of Sport. But what else do we know about the star's life away from her career?

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Below we look at her famous husband and struggles during childbirth.

Sam Quek's famous husband

Sam is married to Tom Mairs, who some viewers will recognise from his own stint on TV. The property entrepreneur who appeared as the titular "Secret Millionaire" on the reality show of the same name in 2010.

According to his Instagram bio, Tom is currently a Student Property Developer and the owner of the largest beef gristle mill in Europe. The son of a multi-millionaire entrepreneur, Tom became one of the Secret Millionaire's youngest-ever participants.

Sam and Tom tied the knot at Chester Racecourse in 2018. They had actually gone to the same school, but never met because they were in different year groups.

Tom made a return to television in 2016 when he teamed up with Sam to compete on For What It's Worth. They were triumphant when they competed – and used their winnings to buy hockey sticks, Team GB hats and flags which they handed out in Rio when Sam headed to the 2016 Olympics.

Sam Quek's warning from doctor's during childbirth

In March 2021, Sam gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter called Molly Doris Mairs. But the birth was traumatic for the sports star as she underwent a caesarean section after going 11 days overdue.

She was in labour for 27 hours before she was taken for a C-section after the doctors warned the baby's head was starting to swell. Tom spoke to OK magazine at the time, saying his wife's strong stomach muscles made it hard to cut out the baby.

Tom said: "We got to 6cm [dilated] at midnight and it went on for hours. The consultant kept coming in and I wasn't moving from 6cm.

"She said, 'Listen, you're absolutely shattered. You've gone through a lot, your waters have been broken for longer than we'd like'.

"They checked her at hour 24 and said, 'You're still at 6cm, what do you want to do?' Sam was like, 'It's time to discuss options.' The baby's head was starting to swell."

Sam shared that after the birth she had felt like a 'failure' as she struggled to be able to breastfeed, due to having a low supply of milk. The couple had sadly suffered a miscarriage just months before.

Sam shared: "I didn’t want to speak to anyone. I had guilt and shame that it was my fault. I was looking back at everything I did during pregnancy and replaying every single minute.

"I put it all on me and my body. But I never said that to Tom at the time."

In 2022, Sam gave birth to the couple's second child, a son called Isaac Gregory Mairs.