Poor Gok Wan was forced to flea the This Morning set on Thursday after being confronted by one of his biggest fears – snakes!
The television presenter, 43, admitted his hands were shaking at the very thought of being in the same building as snakes, let alone coming face-to-face with them.
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On the latest episode of This Morning, Gok and co-host Rylan Clark-Neal interviewed a man who found a snake in his shower and met a snake handler.
Ahead of the segment starting, Rylan noted that Gok was already starting to shake as photos of snakes appeared on the screen.
“Honesty, I can’t even look at the screen right now,” said Gok.
“I have a fear of snakes. I could be on a This Morning phone-in. I’ve never met a snake, a snake has never done anything wrong to me, but me and my gorgeous brother are the same.
“I can’t look at them in pictures, if they turn up in films… we have some snakes in the building and literally my hands are shaking. The idea of it, I cannot bear it!”
Rylan confirmed Gok has a “genuine fear” which was evident when Gok made a hasty exit just before the snake handler arrived.
Gok said: “This is awful and I’ve never, ever done this before at work but I’ll have to leave the studio because there are real snakes in the studio with an amazing handler, but my fear is so bad I can’t be in here.”
Rylan jokingly asked Gok to make a dramatic Jeremy Kyle-style exit, to which Gok laughed: “I’m off! I’m going!”
It left Rylan alone to interview snake expert Trevor Smith who brought a selection of snakes with him to the studio.
Trevor said sightings of snakes in public had risen recently because of the hot weather and said it was best not to touch any snakes you may come across.
He said if you’re not sure about a snake you’ve seen, people should take a photo and show it to the experts who can determine what to do next.
After the interview concluded, Rylan shouted backstage: “Gok, are you alright?”
Gok replied: “No, I’m not! I’m listening to you talk about it! Can you hurry up with the snakes already?”
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When the snake handler quickly whipped out one final snake to show Rylan, a horrified Gok hid his face and shouted: “Oh my God, it’s the skinny quick ones! If you bring it out here…”
Many fans suggested Gok should ask This Morning’s Speakmans duo to help him with his phobia of snakes, given they’ve helped many viewers overcome other phobias.
https://twitter.com/mrsstaciewright/status/1027492032955248641
@therealgokwan needs help from #TheSpeakmans for his snake phobia #ThisMorning #ROKrule
— Cathy Brady🏆x 19 (@CeeBee8) August 9, 2018
They are missing a trick on #ThisMorning They should have had the Speakmans on to cure Gok of his fear of snakes. 😂
— Kim Carberry (@LifeAsKimBlog) August 9, 2018
Other viewers fully understood Gok’s fear of snakes and said they’d be horrified to come across one in their home or out in public.
If I found a snake in my house there would be a cartoon outline of me through the wall #ThisMorning
— Darren Haywood (@darren_haywood) August 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/BlForBane/status/1027489718311768064
@therealgokwan I'd have been right behind you #snakes #thismorning
— Sue Kirwan (@Suzybk72) August 9, 2018
Others, meanwhile, said they didn’t fear snakes at all.
#ThisMorning Never been afraid of snakes. Remember holding a huge boa constrictor in Florida years ago. Spiders on the other hand terrify me. 😱
— ᘿᒪᒪᘿᑢᖶᖇᓰᖽᐸᗩ (𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐊a) Ƭ̵̬̊ (@Ellectrika) August 9, 2018
https://twitter.com/NotYou72/status/1027491265141719040
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
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