Dancing On Ice judge Ashley Banjo has been credited with saving his brother Jordan Banjo’s life twice by the grateful dancer.
Ashley, who is also a judge on Britain’s Got Talent, is said to have “staged an intervention” after seeing his brother struggle with his escalating weight as a teenager.
Jordan spiralled to 22 stone and was gorging on fizzy drinks and sugary snacks, with doctors diagnosing him as morbidly obese when he was just 13.
However, while he did manage to dramatically slim down, his weight loss goal got out of control.
Jordan, 28, said candidly: “It’s no secret that I struggled with my weight.
Ashley has been credited with saving his brother Jordan’s life twice as he battled with his weight (Image: instagram)
“But what I’ve never spoken about is how I went too far the other way.”
The star added to The Mirror: “I turned to Ash because I knew I was either going to have to do something about my weight or things were going to get way, way worse.
“Ash was brilliant. He helped me rethink my diet and put together a workout routine. The weight came off pretty quickly.”
Jordan is said to have shed almost half his body weight but by his own account became obsessed with losing more and more.
“No matter what I looked like in the mirror, I always thought I could lose more weight,” he added.
“When you’ve been that big and you lose so much weight, that quick, it’s not like everything is easy and you’re just there looking ripped, you know? I had to work hard to try and maintain it.
Jordan has spoken frankly about his battle with his weight (Image: Getty Images)
“But all I could think about was losing more weight, and it got out of control.”
Jordan was so obsessed with losing as much weight as possible, at one point he was only eating a single bowl of cereal and a chicken breast a day.
Things came to a head around Diversity’s 2009 Christmas tour after he had lost eight stone – dropping down to 12 stone.
Ashley intervened again after his brother lost eight stone (Image: Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)
Recalling the moment fans wondered if something was wrong, Jordan added: “My name was announced and I walked on stage past an old picture of me where I was over 20 stone.
“I remember walking on stage and no one cheered. They all looked confused.
“Ash had to get on the microphone and make a joke about how I looked different from my picture on screen – it’s only then that people realised it was me.”
From this point on Ashley intervened again and helped his brother overcome his troubled relationship with body image and food.
Currently he is now back up to 17 stone and insists he is healthier than ever.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
