Entertainment News

Stephen Mulhern Breaks Down in ‘Most Horrific Moment of His Life’ as New Documentary Forces Brutal Self-Realisation

By on Saturday, December 13, 2025

“I’ve Never Been This Exposed”: Stephen Mulhern’s New Documentary Pushes Him to the Edge — and Changes Him Forever

For more than two decades, Stephen Mulhern has been Britain’s safest pair of hands.

Always smiling.
Always controlled.
Always the host — never the story.

Until now.

In a new ITV documentary series, Accidental Tourist, the 47-year-old presenter is pushed so far beyond his comfort zone that he describes one moment as “the most horrific of my entire life.”

It involved:

  • being ordered to strip completely naked,

  • being twisted into painful positions by a stranger,

  • and being driven so close to physical sickness that he feared he would vomit on camera.

But the most unsettling part wasn’t the fear.

It was what the experience made him realise about himself.

🌏 A Trip That Was Never Meant to Be Easy

Accidental Tourist sees Mulhern travel to South Korea, guided — and relentlessly teased — by longtime friends Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly, who openly admit the show exists to force Stephen out of routines he has clung to for most of his life.

“This isn’t me hosting,” Stephen explains.
“This is me being myself. And that’s something people have never really seen.”

The idea was first pitched three years ago.

He backed out.

“I lost my nerve,” he admits.
“I just wasn’t ready.”

🤢 The Food That Nearly Broke Him

One of Stephen’s lifelong fears is food — unfamiliar textures, tastes, smells.

So naturally, the show opens with him trying a prawn for the first time.

The result is almost unwatchable.

“I know it’s breakfast time,” he joked on Lorraine,
“but I was virtually physically sick. It was so meaty.”

For viewers, it may look trivial.
For Stephen, it was monumental.

“This is massive for me,” he said.
“It’s not comedy — it’s fear.”

🧖 “Take All Your Clothes Off”

Then came the moment that left him shaken.

A traditional Korean massage — something he assumed would be relaxing.

Instead, through a translator, the masseur delivered four words Stephen wasn’t prepared to hear:

“Take all your clothes off.”

Stephen froze.

“It was the most horrific moment of my life,” he said.

Bent, folded, stretched and contorted into positions he didn’t know his body could manage, Stephen described feeling utterly powerless.

“I was like a contortionist,” he laughed weakly.
“Bendy Wendy.”

But beneath the humour was genuine distress.

This wasn’t a gag.
This wasn’t TV banter.

It was vulnerability — total and unavoidable.

🔮 The Moment That Shook Him Most

If the physical challenges rattled him, the spiritual encounter broke something open.

Stephen met a mudang — a famous Korean shaman — who revealed details about his life she could not have known.

“She told me something only my family and close friends know,” he said quietly.

That he had been seriously ill three years ago.

“A massive operation,” he admitted.
“I’ve never talked about my health publicly. Ever.”

The ritual that followed was surreal:

  • his worn underwear wrapped around a wooden fish,

  • knives clunking around his body,

  • a fire stick waved across his back,

  • the fish striking his spine.

Stephen was visibly shaken.

And yet…

“There was something about it,” he said.
“I felt better afterward.”

🧠 The Realisation That Hurt the Most

The physical fear was temporary.

The emotional realisation wasn’t.

“I’ve kept my life incredibly small,” Stephen admitted.
“Same holidays. Same food. Same patterns.”

Florida.
Portugal.
Family trips on repeat.

Ant and Dec mock him affectionately for refusing to even try hummus — but the show reveals something deeper.

“What I thought was quirkiness,” Stephen said,
“was actually fear.”

Fear of:

  • strange places

  • unfamiliar food

  • the sea

  • losing control

“I’ve never really taken risks,” he confessed.
“I’ve never had the guts.”

🖤 Grief, Collapse, And A Wake-Up Call

The series also touches on the death of Stephen’s father, and a terrifying health scare shortly after, when he collapsed in a pizza restaurant and was rushed to hospital.

These moments, combined with the Korean journey, forced him to ask a question he’d never asked before:

“What do I want — outside of TV?”

“I love television,” he said.
“I love the stage, the game shows, the buzz.”

“But maybe I should give more time to my family… and to myself.”

📺 Not Comedy — Connection

Stephen is adamant this isn’t I’m A Celebrity.

“It’s not about stunts,” he said.
“It’s about relatability.”

Viewers expecting pure laughs may be surprised.

“It’s funny,” he admits.
“But it’s also emotional. Raw. Exposing.”

And that, perhaps, is the point.

🌊 A New Chapter Begins

By the end of the series, Stephen does the unthinkable.

He tackles his fear of the sea — joining freedivers who plunge into open water without oxygen tanks.

For a man who described himself as “a 70-year-old in a 47-year-old body,” it’s nothing short of transformation.

“To change a pattern in your life is a big deal,” he reflected.
“Taking a chance is sometimes worth the risk.”

And with a small smile, he added:

“If I can do it — someone who could barely try a prawn — then honestly… anyone can.”

Accidental Tourist airs Sunday at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX.

0
Related Posts