TV star Holly Willoughby has recounted how she once drank shots with renowned physicist Stephen Hawking. The former This Morning presenter was appearing on The Graham Norton Show on Friday night, alongside Robert De Niro, Elton John, Mikey Madison, Alan Carr and Brandi Carlisle, when she told her story. Appearing on the chat show to talk about her new Netflix series Celebrity Bear Hunt, Holly revealed that she and Alan had once done shots with Stephen Hawking at a party.
Holly got onto the subject after she told a story about live TV going wrong earlier in her career. She remembered that she had been presenting This Morning on the day that Stephen Hawking died in March 2018, and the producing team on the show prepared a special memorial video to Stephen. The segment went well, and Holly also noted that one of the guests on the morning show that day had been singer Meghan Trainor, who is best known for the song All About That Bass.
"At the end of the show, we decided we would dedicate the show to Stephen," Holly remembered. "They had this lovely black and white picture of him, and we were going to dedicate a song to him. This is where live telly can be dangerous, as the sound guy pushed the wrong button, and played Meghan Trainor's All About That Bass by accident, and there was nothing we could do.". It was then that Holly turned to Alan and said, "I was very lucky to meet him one time, and I think you were there, too! We went to a party and he was there and we did shots with him and he was quite wild!".
Holly also related a story in connection with another person on the Graham Norton sofa, Sir Elton John. She said that she had been at Glastonbury in 2024 and had seen Elton perform on stage before heading to one of the festival’s infamous portaloos. The 43 year old joined the long queue for the toilets after the Rocketman singer had finished performing his acclaimed set, and when she finally entered the cubicle she was quickly brought back down to earth. “I was there and was having the time of my life. You [Elton] were incredible. Everyone knew you were going to be amazing but honestly it was magic. Everyone was singing and it was like the crowd was moving as one, I’d never seen anything like it.”.
She continued: “Elton was the highlight, but then everyone moved towards the loos. After his set, the loos were chaos. It was disgusting, but when you’ve got to go you’ve got to go. I was standing on the loo – you would not want to sit down – and I thought, ‘Oh my God, when I come out of here, whoever comes in next will think that was me so I can’t leave that.’”. “I’ve always got a bag of wet wipes on me, so I cleaned that loo until it was spotless. It was perfect. I was back down to earth with a bump after Elton.”.
Holly, dressed in a chic black suit on the show, also chatted about her new series, in which she filmed alongside survival expert Bear Grylls as he put celebrities through their paces in the Costa Rican jungle. “It is so nice to be doing something new and exciting and being on a proper adventure,” she said. “Working with Bear Grylls has taken me totally out of my comfort zone. The magic of Bear is that he is really convincing and inspirational and even got me to do stuff and I am the scaredest person ever!".
In the show, 12 celebrities have to survive in the jungle as they are being pursued by Bear and faced with different challenges. Shirley Ballas, Boris Becker, Danny Cipriani, Mel B and Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen are among those taking part, while contestant Steph McGovern has revealed she suffered an injury while filming. Steph, 42, got caught up in a terrifying incident while filming the show, which saw hit her face off a cliff edge. Medics flocked to help her as she helplessly hung from her safety harness in harrowing scenes.
Speaking to The Sun, Steph recalled: "We had these amazing medics and everything. There was a moment where I literally fell off a cliff and smashed into a wall.". She went on to describe how she felt in the moment, adding: "I was just hanging there looking at... There was blood dripping off my face. I didn't overthink it. I just thought, they're not going to let me die. "It was fine, it wasn't a big deal, it wasn't broken. They were just kind of checking me that I didn't have a concussion. I was a bit mad. You know these things sometimes that look more dramatic than they actually are?".
