joking around
The Chase’s Paul Sinha says Parkinson’s diagnosis made him ‘flounder’ on Taskmaster
THE CHASE’S Paul Sinha is trying to make light of his recent Parkinson’s diagnosis by joking it was only part of the reason for his shoddy Taskmaster performance.
The comedian bravely revealed he had the disease on Friday but vowed to “fight this with every breath I have”.
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The comedian, 49, currently appearing on Dave’s Taskmaster, poked fun at his performance on the show and suggested that having the illness only played a small part for his low score.
He wrote: “I ought to clarify for Taskmaster fans. I'm an absolute dolt when it comes to common sense, lateral thinking and visual creativity. The illness was only a tiny aspect of why I floundered.”
The show sees Taskmaster Greg Davies and Alex Horne set stupefying tasks to a group of comedians, in which they have to display their creative competitiveness.
Paul is currently competing alongside Love Island narrator Iain Stirling, The Inbetweeners' Joe Thomas, Peter Kay's Car Share's Sian Gibson and 8 Out of 10 Cats's Lou Sanders.
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However, The Chase star is at the bottom of the leaderboard with 74 points while Lou leads with 107.
The tweet comes after the quiz expert revealed on Friday he had been diagnosed with the progressive brain disease at the end of May.
Paul revealed that his ill health began in September 2017 with the sudden-onset of a frozen right shoulder.
Sharing his story on his blog, he explained that after experiencing a sudden-onset, frozen right shoulder, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.
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Symptom's of Parkinson's
Parkinson's disease is a condition where parts of the brain become progressively damaged over many years.
It's thought that approximately one in 500 people are affected by Parkinson's disease and most people who start to develop symptoms are over 50.
Men have a slightly higher risk of getting Parkinson's than women.
Symptoms tend to be split into motor and non-motor related issues.
They can include:
- involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body (tremors)
- slow movement
- stiff and inflexible muscles
- depression and anxiety
- balance problems
- loss of sense of smell
- problems sleeping
- memory problems
Paul admitted that behind the facade he put on as a stand-up comedian, he was "deeply scared" about facing the truth of his illness.
"It has been a really, really tough two weeks," he said. "Cancelling my run at the Edinburgh Fringe, missing the World Quizzing Championships to have brain scans, performing club sets whilst emotionally bewildered, and of course working my way through my loved ones, delivering the bad news.
"With the diagnosis now confirmed, and a treatment plan in place, I now feel far more prepared for the new challenges ahead."
Paul vows to continue to appear on The Chase as he fights his condition but has ruled out taking part in Dancing On Ice.
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And he thanked his fiance Oliver for his support after they got engaged in January this year.
"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," he said.
"I don’t consider myself unlucky, and whatever the next stage of my life holds for me, many others have it far worse."
"In the time since my Parkinson’s started I have been ludicrously busy, and fully intend to keep Chasing, keep writing and performing comedy, keep quizzing and keep being hopeless at Tasks.
"Dancing on Ice is, I suspect, out of the question. A lot of people have asked 'What can I do to help ?'
"The answer is to treat me exactly the same as before. Much love, Paul."
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