Stephen Mulhern breaks silence on 'worrying' illness which forced him off TV
Stephen Mulhern has broken his silence on the ‘worrying’ illness that forced him off air last year.
The 46-year-old was rushed to hospital with a mystery medical condition in March and had to spend a few weeks recovering on ‘doctor’s orders’. Fans first realised something was up with Stephen was absent from a few episodes of Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway.
After missing three weeks of telly, Stephen posted a message to fans reassuring them he was okay. Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, he said: “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 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.”
But as he prepares to take on one of the biggest jobs in his 30-year career as the new host of the rebooted Deal Or No Deal game show, made famous by Noel Edmonds, the former children’s TV presenter and magician has given fans another health update.
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Stephen Mulhern had to take time off Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway to recover from a mystery illness last year (Kieron McCarron/ITV/Shutterstock)“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.
Although he stopped short of saying was wrong with him, Stephen appeared to hint it was serious but added: “Now we’re all right. But it wasn’t good. It was a bit of a worrying time.” Since his health scare in 2022, he revealed he has put measures in place to make sure he can complete long days of filming.
Describing his new role as one of the “most taxing” for any TV presenter, he said: “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.”
And Deal Or No Deal is not the only mainstream show Stephen has been lined up to host. He is one of the big name stars rumoured to be taking over from Phillip Schofield to present Dancing on Ice alongside Holly Willoughby. The pair have worked together in the past and although Holly is off-screen at the moment, Stephen hopes the pair could be working together in January – and says he would be “silly” to turn the job down.
In an exclusive chat with the Mirror, he shared: "I'm going to be brutally honest with you, I had the association with Defrosted when it was the spinoff show and when Phil was unwell I stood in, and I loved it. I absolutely loved it back with Holly. We had a great time. It's fun. And the response on social media was amazing.
"We are talking about Dancing On Ice. but I promise you now nothing has been agreed. I've not said yes, and I haven't said no. Would I do it? Do you know something, I think it'd be silly not to do it. But nothing has been fully agreed. It would be great to work with Holly again and if they said 'Is there any stipulation?' I would say 'Yeah they have got to be faster on the ice even on their first go'."
*The new series of Deal Or No Deal starts on ITV1 on Monday, November 20 at 4pm
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