Stephen Mulhern's heartbreaking reason for crying for the first time on TV in The Accidental Tourist
Stephen Mulhern was reduced to tears on TV for the first time as he ventured to South Korea for the series 'The Accidental Tourist' following the death of his father Christopher last year.
Stephen Mulhern cried in his first TV show following the death of his dad Christopher.
Viewers will see a more emotional side to the 48-year-old presenter in the upcoming ITV1 and ITVX travelogue one-off show, 'The Accidental Tourist', which was filmed just after Christopher passed away last year.
The special, which will air at some point in 2025, sees Stephen's 'Saturday Night Takeaway' friends, Ant McPartlin, 49, and Declan Donnelly, 49, whisk him away to South Korea to discover the country and push himself out of his comfort zone to eat food he does not like with strangers.
Stephen told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "No one's ever seen me cry on the telly.
"But it was quite nice to not be behind a format, I've never done that. You're going to see behind the razzle-dazzle if you like. People have thankfully seen me on TV for nearly 25 years, but they may go, ‘Well, what's he like at home? Is he going out with someone?’
"I’m at the very centre of this, and it’s scary.
"They film and they film and they film and they just get everything. I think what you're going to see is a lot of emotion. You'll see me totally out of my comfort zone.”
The 'Catchphrase' host loved has pride in himself for starring in 'The Accidental Tourist' - which reportedly took Stephen three years to be persuaded to do - but he is "gutted" that his father was not alive to see how he got on in the Asian country.
An emotional Stephen admitted: "My dad had just passed away, so that's the only thing. I'm gutted that he didn't see it."
The 'You Bet!' presenter was hesitant to do the series, which has been compared to the hit Sky travelogue programme, 'An Idiot Abroad', that saw comedians Ricky Gervais, 63, and Stephen Merchant, 50, make their actor friend Karl Pilkington, 52, trot around the globe doing silly things.
And because Stephen is "not very worldly" - due to only having holidays in Florida, USA - and his body is only "used to eating plain foods", Ant and Dec thought he would be the perfect person for the show.
Stephen said: "The difference is that I got very emotional because of the timing.
"I’m not very worldly. I don't travel a lot. And my body's been used to eating plain food."
The 'In for a Penny' host said the food he ate in South Korea was "horrific" and when Stephen returned home, he "couldn't eat" for a fortnight - resulting in him shedding "half a stone".
He added: "The food was just horrific, we’d try things like octopus, fish penis, something they dug out the very bottom of the sea and like a worm that's wriggling, but when you squeeze it squirts water.
"When I came back I couldn't eat for two and a half weeks. I literally couldn't stomach anything - I lost half a stone."
