Paul Sinha, star of hit ITV quiz show The Chase, celebrated his “greatest day” this week as he tied the knot with long-term partner Olly.
TV star Paul, also known as The Sinnerman, shared some of the intimate details of his big day on his Sinhaha blog, also revealing some of the non-traditional choices he and his now-husband made to make their special day their own.
The 49-year-old, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s earlier this year, confessed he was nervous about how the disease would impact the couple’s special day.
Writing on his blog, he said: “There are many aspects to Parkinson’s and a lot of them are non motor. Mood swings, low motivation, tiredness, constipation … So how the hell am I going to cope with the biggest day of my life?”
Despite his fears though, the comedian said ‘I do’ in a registry office ceremony in front of just 38 guests. While the vows were traditional. Paul revealed their choice of readings were anything but as the couple chose song lyrics, rather than the usual verses and poems.
“I’m not a religious person, and I’m pretty ignorant of poetry,” he wrote. “So reading number one was the lyrics to Love Comes Quickly, by the Pet Shop Boys, jokily and skilfully delivered by one of my best men.”
Paul said the second reading was intended to be just as comical, however the Chaser said the lyrics to Bonnie Tyler’s ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ – which includes the line ‘Every now and then I get a little bit helpless, and I’m lying like a child in your arms’ – perfectly describe the “reality of juggling a serious disease and love”.
The surprises didn’t stop there for Paul and Olly’s guests though as the television star also performed a self-written song and dance number to 75 lunch guests, which was made up of rhyming profiles about each guest. He added: “Halfway through the song, I was thinking, ‘I am having the f**king time of my life’. My clan were meeting his clan, and everything was wonderful in the world.”
He concluded the blog post by saying: “Best of all, when I woke up the next morning, I realised: I hadn’t thought about my Parkinson’s once.All I thought was how lucky I was to have lived a life where my friends and family are amazing. On to married life.”
His wedding day isn’t the only life-changing event that Paul has shared on his blog however as, back in June, he publicly shared the news of his Parkinson’s diagnosis, an incurable disease which affects the central nervous system, in a raw and honest post simply titled ‘Diagnosis’.
“On the evening of Thursday May 30th, an experienced consultant neurologist calmly informed me that I had Parkinson’s disease,” he wrote on his Sinhaha blog.
He went on to reveal that his path to diagnosis was a long one which started in September 2017 when he suffered a frozen right shoulder, which then led him to be diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and lose two stone, before undergoing a shoulder operation in January this year.
However things took a turn for the worse in May this year, during a trip to New Zealand, when Paul said he noticed his right-sided limp was getting worse. Limping is a common symptom of Parkinson’s disease, due to the muscles becoming stiff and inflexible, as well as involuntary shaking (tremors) of parts of the body and slow movement.
“Nonetheless my reaction was not one of shock,” he went on. “I spent May this year in New Zealand simultaneously having the comedy month of my life, and worrying about why a right-sided limp was now getting worse. Behind the facade of the cheerful, late night comedy festival drunk was a man deeply scared about facing the truth when back in the UK.”
He added: “I have an amazing family, no strangers to serious medical illness, I’m blessed to have a fiance who is there for me, and I have a multitude of friends and colleagues whom I consider to be exceptional human beings. I don’t consider myself unlucky, and whatever the next stage of my life holds for me, many others have it far worse.”
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