Strictly star injured in horror London street phone robbery
Strictly Come Dancing star Michelle Tsiakkas has taken to social media to reveal she was the victim of a startling mobile phone robbery while out in London in broad daylight
Strictly Come Dancing professional Michelle Tsiakkas has recounted being mugged for her phone in the streets of London. The 29-year-old dance expert has appeared on the hit BBC show since 2022.
She was paired with EastEnders star Jamie Borthwick in the 2024 contest where they landed in seventh place. Taking to social media at the end of the week, the TV star shared a haunting account of being mugged in broad daylight.
She told fans in a video message shared on her main grid: "This was a couple of days ago and I've just about mentally recovered from that. It was quite traumatising on the day.
"It wasted my whole day and made me feel awful, scared, helpless and I don't want the same to happen to you. My phone got stolen. My phone got stolen.
"I mean I see it happening all the time but it's just one of those things that you just never think it's gonna happen to you. And then it does."
She went on to explain that she was simply going about her day when a criminal whizzed past her on an electric bike and snatched her phone from her hand. She recalled: "So it was early morning. I was on my way to the dentist in London.
"It was around Covent Garden so the streets were really quiet. I think I was just the only person around so maybe I was an easy target and I whipped out my phone to have a look at the directions to see where my dentist was.
"I was on the actual street of the dentist and what happens? A man comes on a bike behind me, sweeps past me and grabs my phone."
Revealing she was injured in the incident, Michelle continued: "So he's grabbed my phone. He's on an electric bike and my heart just sank. I tried to I think like reach for it and that made me fall on my knees on the floor and graze my knee.
"I think my reflex was just to swear and then scream give me back my phone and clearly you know that didn't work. He just left. He was wearing a mask so there was no way that I could have seen what he looked like and he was going really fast on that electric bike so there was no way on earth I could have caught up with him."
She added: "Thankfully there were two really lovely and helpful women there and they'd seen that I was a bit distressed."
Unsettled Londoners have been left in disbelief as mobile phone theft has increased at a horrifying rate. New statistics release this weekend have revealed that 231,000 phone thefts and robberies were recorded over the past four years in the city.
Analysis by The Times revealed hotspots in London include St James's Park, where Piccadilly and Haymarket meet Pall Mall and Clarence House as well as parts of the West End.
Figures released by Scotland Yard figures show a 20 per cent year-on-year increase in robberies - with 81,256 mobile phone crimes were recorded in 2023. The stats also showed that roughly 37 people have their phone snatched on the streets of the capital every day.
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