KRISHNAN Guru-Murthy is best known as the lead anchor of Channel 4 news, but despite the daily rigours of journalism he's taking on his biggest challenge yet.

He's signed up to compete on Strictly Come Dancing, however he might face a complication in the run up to the competition.

Krishnan, 53, suffers from a genetic heart condition called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, which sadly led to the death of two cousins in his family.

However, he insisted that he felt the need to take part in the intense ballroom competition before he becomes “too decrepit” to compete in the future.

"I even asked my cardiologist if I might drop dead live on BBC One," Murthy admitted The Mirror,

"No, was his answer. But he couldn’t give me an absolute guarantee.

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"I have to be careful of raising my heartbeat into the red zone; that final 15%. I shouldn’t go there. It’s where people with my condition drop dead."

The Channel 4 star admitted how telly bosses have offered him the chance to do talent competitions repeatedly over the course of his career as he details the effects of his condition.

And he revealed that he thinks it's now or never as his wife Lisa even gave him her blessing to take part in the long-running BBC show.

Krishnan revealed: "Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy thickens the muscle walls of the heart and, in some cases, can lead to cardiac arrest.

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"They’ve been asking me to do these sorts of shows for years.

What if I kept saying no? It might not be physically possible for me to do it now, that remains to be seen."

He added: "But it certainly won’t be possible in five years.”

What is Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

According to the British Heart Foundation, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (aka HCM) entails the muscular wall of the heart (the myocardium) becomes thickened which can make the heart muscle stiff.

This makes it harder for the heart to pump out blood around the body.

Symptoms include:

• chest pain
• light headedness and fainting
• palpitations
• shortness of breath.

Most people with the condition feel stable and have no symptoms throughout their life.

Although others who do feel symptoms find they worsen in later life as the heart muscle might have slowly become more stiff which makes it harder for the heart to pump.

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