Homes Under The Hammer star hospitalised for emergency surgery on heart after being given ‘hours to live’

HOMES Under The Hammer presenter Martin Roberts has revealed that he was told had “less than a few hours to live”.

The TV personality had to undergo emergency surgery to save his life after doctors had failed to spot a problem with his heart.

Martin, 59, went into hospital for the life-saving op last year after developing heart pain when his pericardium – the fluid-filled sack that protects the organ – expanded.

A build up of fluid had been putting pressure on his heart and he was rushed to hospital for the procedure to keep him alive.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun’s TV Mag, Martin said: “A year ago, I had a problem with my heart that hadn’t been noticed.

“The sack around my heart had expanded and was putting pressure on the heart. I had less than a few hours to live.

“I was rushed into hospital and had an emergency operation where they stabbed a tube into the sack around the heart and drew a litre and a half of fluid.

“Had I not been in the right place… Three weeks earlier I was on the road in a transit van and if it had happened then, I would be dead.”

Martin told TV Mag it was that near-death experience that made him willing to “try anything”, so he signed up for new E4 series The Big Celebrity Detox.

Over eight episodes, spiritual guide and mystic Sah D’Simone takes eight celebrities through a series of toe-curling therapies designed to make them feel spiritually cleansed and as though they’ve been ‘reborn’.

Joining Martin on the 16-day retreat are former Atomic Kitten singer Kerry Katona, Love Island stars Megan Barton Hanson and Toby Aromolaran, Ibiza Weekender’s David Potts, Too Hot To Handle contestant Chloe Veitch, kickboxing champion Michael ‘Venom’ Page and royal reality TV star Princess Olga Romanoff.

The Big Celebrity Detox starts on Monday 15 May at 9pm on E4. TV Mag is free inside The Sun every Saturday.