Strictly Come Dancing star Paul Merson had such a bad gambling addiction he blew his family’s £160,000 house deposit in lockdown with bets on table tennis.

The former Arsenal star is on the BBC1 show having turned his life around and is in recovery from his alcohol and gambling issues. But he has bravely spoken in the past about how he struggled to cope in lockdown. In 2020 when the covid pandemic hit he spent the entire deposit and was left feeling suicidal. Looking back Merson said: “My anxiety kicked in and I thought, ‘They’re not going to have Soccer Saturday any more’.

“I was thinking, ‘I’m not going to be able to earn anything’. My older kids’ mums have houses and I want to give my younger kids a future. Kate and I had £160,000 saved up and I blew it in a few bets. It was all online, but it wasn’t a bookmaker, it was a private bookie.” At the time because of lockdown the only sports being played were table tennis tournaments and golf.

Merson, 56, told the Sun: “My last bet was eight grand on a table tennis player. I didn’t have a particular knowledge of table tennis but everything was locked down at that point, so there wasn’t much to bet on. When I got to that point it was just a total chase-up to try and get my money back, which is a prime example of a compulsive gambler. That was my last eight grand but when I’m in the grip of it, I lose all sense of rationale.”

After losing the money he said it began to “eat him up” and he knew he had let down his family and felt suicidal. After the incident his partner Kate took control of the family finances and he is now blocked from all betting companies so he cannot gamble even if he wanted to.”

Speaking to the Mirror ahead of Strictly he said he hoped appearing on the dancing show would help others with their addictions. He said: “Being an addict and a recovering alcoholic myself….to show people watching this show who have got addictions, that you can go out and do something like this…is so important. Because addiction takes you away from everything. That’s all it ever does. It wants you on your own.”

He added: “Now I’m going in front of millions of people doing something I’m not very good at. I used to think, ‘I can’t do things like that’ but now I’ve got the opportunity to try.”

Paul is being supported on his Strictly journey by third wife Kate, with whom he has two children. He was first married to Lorraine Costin for ten years in the 1990s. The couple were both 21 when they married in 1990 and three boys soon followed. Paul went on to marry Louise Bache and have twin girls, before splitting in 2013.

“I’ve danced three times in my life and they were all at my wedding,” he laughs. “I’m so far out of my comfort zone. But it’s good. When I got to training yesterday a group of the celebs were already doing their dancing and I was blown away. I just thought everybody was going to be sh*t. Honestly I’d never seen anything like it. It was very impressive.”

Paul is being supported on his Strictly journey by third wife Kate, with whom he has two children. He was first married to Lorraine Costin for ten years in the 1990s. The couple were both 21 when they married in 1990 and three boys soon followed. Paul went on to marry Louise Bache and have twin girls, before splitting in 2013.

“I’ve danced three times in my life and they were all at my wedding,” he said. “I’m so far out of my comfort zone. But it’s good. When I got to training yesterday a group of the celebs were already doing their dancing and I was blown away. I just thought everybody was going to be sh*t. Honestly I’d never seen anything like it. It was very impressive.”

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