'I didn't speak up...' Daniel Lustig-Webb could not hear during his first series of Gogglebox
Daniel Lustig-Webb has revealed he had difficulty hearing when he joined his ex-husband Stephen Webb on Gogglebox in 2019.
Daniel Lustig-Webb struggled to hear during his first series of Gogglebox.
The 50-year-old reality TV star has dealt with hearing loss in one ear after he caught mumps as a child, and because he felt "embarrassed" by his disability, he did not tell producers of the Channel 4 show - where couples and families react to TV programmes and films - when they placed him on the wrong side of the sofa with his ex-husband, Stephen Webb.
Daniel - who was on Gogglebox with Stephen from 2019 until 2023 - explained in the new issue of New! magazine: "The producers went, 'Can you sit here because that's where Stephen's former co-stars Chris and his mother had sat?'
"I didn't speak up and, bless him, Stephen didn't think about it but it's not up to him to think about.
"I remember saying that I needed to move sides because I can't really hear but they said, 'Well, you always have to sit this side now - that's how we work.'
"The whole first series, I couldn't really hear what he was saying half the time.
"I'm just giggling and laughing - I don't say much.
"That was only a few years ago, but it sits with you."
Daniel did not tell salon owner Stephen, 53, about his partial deafness when they started dating.
The TV personality - who split from Stephen in 2024 - said: "I was quite embarrassed by it and I didn't tell Stephen in the beginning.
"He was like, 'Why didn't you tell me? It's nothing embarrassing.'
"I'm not worried now, but if you go to a dinner party, you have to get there first because you have to get to the corner of the table where you can hear everyone."
And Daniel admitted his disability - which was caused after mumps led to an ear infection - impacted his childhood.
He shared: "As you get older, you have mechanisms to cope with everything but when I was younger, I didn't have a lot of friends.
"I was quite a shy kid and it made it worse - I remember just hearing a lot of noise but not being able to pinpoint where it was coming from.
"If you're on the periphery of a conversation and you're not concentrating, you can't hear what people are saying properly."
Daniel added: "We were on holiday and while I was told it was safe to fly home, the flying must have perforated it.
"I don't remember anything about it - except that at sports day at school, I wasn't running in a straight line.
"My parents said that it really affected my balance."
