At the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the Chase’s Sinnerman was taken seriously ill. Yet with huge financial losses looming, he had no choice but to carry on. Last August, unbeknown to all but a close circle of friends and family, Paul Sinha suffered two heart attacks at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Yet the comedian and star of quiz show The Chase only cancelled two of his Edinburgh shows. “I should have taken a massive break but I continued to gig,” the 54-year-old tells me. He is looking relatively fit and well-rested, taking this year’s Fringe off to watch the Olympics .
He wants to be “upfront, forthright and honest” in sharing his experiences “in my own words without the tabloids sensationalising it”. “The reason I want to share my story is that I truly think performers need to think more about taking better and more holistic self-care of themselves.” Forced to undergo a heart bypass operation in December, Sinha endured what he “can only describe as the most visceral, intense and unpleasant eight days of my life” at St George’s Hospital in London where, coincidentally, he’d qualified as a doctor almost 28 years earlier.
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