Stephen Mulhern has opened up about the ‘worrying’ illness which forced him off air last year.
The 46-year-old star missed a few episode of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway after being rushed to hospital with an unknown condition in March 2022.
He subsequently had to spend a few weeks recovering on ‘doctor’s orders’, and now he’s opened up on the ‘worrying’ situation.
Stephen is still yet to reveal exactly what the condition was, but he did offer some more insight on his health.
‘It’s really bizarre because this is the first time I’ve ever explained – because I keep myself to myself – but I was in hospital. I had to have those two weeks off Saturday Night Takeaway,’ he told The Sun.
‘Now we’re all right. But it wasn’t good. It was a bit of a worrying time.’
Last year, he told fans he was ‘on the mend’ as he revealed why he’d gone ‘quiet’ for a while.
He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, at the time: ‘Hello all, Sorry I’ve been quiet on here recently and thank you for all your lovely messages. I’ve had some time off and been resting up on doctor’s orders.’
He later added: ‘I’m on the mend, I’m happy to say, and looking forward to getting back to work soon.
‘In the meantime… I’ll put my feet up and watch Saturday Night Takeaway tonight with the rest of you lot. Please don’t miss me too much! Lots of love, Stephen. X.’
Now, Stephen is preparing to host the Deal Or No Deal revival, which he’s described as one of the ‘most taxing’ roles in TV.
He added to The Sun: ‘You’ve got to use every trick in the book because you know there will be people that will be crying, there will be people who are angry, people who are gutted, overjoyed.
‘So you do just come out and go, “Wow, that was like a boxing match”. When I finish filming, I stay in the hotel next door and I just go to bed.’
Meanwhile, Stephen recently confirmed he’s had talks with ITV to present Dancing On Ice, having fronted spin-off show Defrosted in the past as well as standing in for Phillip Schofield when he was absent due to Covid.
The position has been vacant since the former This Morning presenter, 61, resigned from all his projects with the broadcaster after admitting to lying about an ‘unwise but not illegal’ affair with a junior member of staff.
He recently told the Daily Mail: ‘We are talking about it.
‘But I promise you now that nothing is confirmed but if it happens, it will be absolutely amazing… if it doesn’t, look, it doesn’t. I promise you I would tell you if we had it confirmed at this point.’
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