Ant McPartlin has revealed the painful and unexpected eye condition that left his longtime best friend Declan Donnelly shocked — after sharing a gruesome photo taken during an awkward trip to the pharmacy.
The TV favourite, 50, took to Instagram to show fans his visibly swollen and irritated eye, snapping the image while seeking help inside a chemist. The condition, Ant later explained, was caused by a blocked tear duct and required a course of antibiotics.
Speaking candidly on Belta Box, the podcast he hosts with Dec, Ant didn’t hide his frustration over the ordeal.
“You can tell by my expression I’m not in the best of moods,” he admitted.
“It’s ruined my day off.”
But the uncomfortable experience didn’t end there.
To Ant’s disbelief, he revealed that while dealing with the painful eye issue, the pharmacist asked him for a selfie — a moment that left him torn between discomfort and politeness.
Despite everything, the Geordie star still agreed.
“If you’re listening to this and it’s you — my pharmacist — send it in,” he joked on the podcast, laughing through the irritation.
Fans were quick to react, with many drawing comparisons to Ant’s iconic Byker Grove scene from the 1990s, where his character PJ was temporarily blinded in a paintball accident and delivered the now-legendary line: “I cannae see.”
One listener joked: “That’ll be from the paintballs all them years ago.”
The revelation comes as Ant and Dec have been making the media rounds in recent weeks, including an appearance on the Stick to Football podcast. During the chat, the presenting duo opened up about a surprising moment in their careers — when they nearly walked away from Britain’s Got Talent.
Dec explained that the pair felt increasingly sidelined on the show, despite the significant time commitment.
“We were in the show less and less,” he said.
“It was taking up a lot of our time, and we weren’t really in it. We thought we might as well leave and put our energies elsewhere.”
The pair decided to fly to the US to have a frank conversation with show boss Simon Cowell.
According to Dec, Simon was quick to shut down the idea.
“He said, ‘No, you can’t leave. I’ll turn up on time, we’ll make sure you’re featured more, and you’ll have more fun with it.’”
Dec then recalled an unforgettable moment during lunch in Los Angeles, when Simon leaned across the table and jokingly tickled him, declaring: “You will never leave me.”
The music and TV mogul promised things would change — and Ant and Dec say he kept his word.
As Ant continues to recover from his eye condition, fans have praised his honesty and humour in sharing the less glamorous side of life — even when it involves swollen eyes, ruined days off, and unexpected selfie requests.
Source:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/
