'Naked Attraction' star and fitness guru thanks NHS for saving his life twice after being given hours to live

Bodybuilder Andy Snook, aged 69, of Taunton, had to relearn how to walk and talk after spending many weeks in an induced coma with sepsis. He spent a total of four and a half months in hospital.

Snook, who reality TV show viewers may recognise from Channel 4 dating show ‘Naked Attraction’, first fell poorly in February with a severe tooth infection.

The infection spread throughout his body, however, and turned septic, which led to him developing pneumonia. His organs then began failing and he was placed in the induced coma. His family were told he had just hours to live, but he managed to pull through.

He told Somerset County Gazette: "I can't thank the NHS enough, they pulled out every single stop for me and said to my brother I was the 'sickest man in the hospital'. I lost three and a half stone of muscle while in the coma, being fed through a tube, which was shocking when I woke up. But hey, so what, I've got my life and I know how to build myself back up.”

He continued to say that his muscle, which he had built up over decades of bodybuilding training had helped to keep him alive: "If I hadn't had that three and a half stone that I could lose, on my chest, shoulders, arms and that.. . . the doctors said it contributed a lot to saving my life."

Snook, who also appeared on MTV’s ‘Spring Break with Grandad’, added that he believes "the mind is your strongest body part". Prior to his illness, he worked out five days a week for two hours at a time, and is now looking forward to getting back to the gym.

Offering hope to others, he said: "With the will to live, the grace of God, the love of my family, and the belief in myself, I would like to inspire others that they can go through what I have and get back to where they were before - with a positive mindset, and no fear."

Snook stripped off for risque dating show Naked Attraction back in 2017. The show involves a single person choose their date based on the physical appearance of their potential matches alone - so as the title of the show suggests, they have to bare all.

He was chosen by single lady Cathy, a 43-year-old admin clerk, to go on a date. The pair were filmed during their date and seemed to get on very well. Snook told the cameras he “really liked her” and “thought there was a connection” between them - but when producers caught up with them several weeks later the connection had evidently soured as the pair ended up in an argument.

In the same year, Snook and his then 28-year-old step grandson James Bryce teamed up to take part in MTV’s ‘Spring Break with Grandad’. The show featured grandparent and grandchild pairs from the UK and US going on drink-fuelled holiday together in Cancun, Mexico.