Weeks after quitting Channel 4’s sofa-surfing show The Sun revealed how he had landed a part on ITV’s Dancing on Ice line-up, but his luck then ran out when he fractured his ankle in a slip on the rink, leaving him in a cast and forced out of the competition.

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Now for the first time he’s opened up on the horror injury, his departure from Gogglebox after 10 years and how the plans for his new chapter have been left shattered.

Stephen, 52, told The Sun: “I’m really gutted, it’s really hard mentally cos I’m indoors all day now.

“Training was going really well, I was improving every day and that’s the gutting thing – it isn’t like I was doing the headbanger, I was just doing this simple little move and I just slipped.

“I screamed in agony, it was awful.

“When I was on the hospital ward chatting, I said ‘I need a job where I can just sit at home watching TV’ and someone shouted out ‘what like Gogglebox?’ The irony!

“I’ve allowed myself to be a bit down in the dumps about it and I’ve had to stop watching everyone’s progress on social media but I have to look towards the future and hopefully a new job after Christmas.”

It’s been just over three weeks since the TV personality suffered the graphic fall.

Describing the moment for the first time, Stephen said: “It was the speed that I came down, on a spin.

“I knew instantly because the ankle just went completely floppy. I had no control over my foot.

“The doctor did say another centimetre and the bone would’ve pierced the skin.

“The pain was so excruciating, someone brought a sick bucket – if it had pierced the skin I would have definitely needed that!”

After an operation to install two metal plates in his ankle, Stephen is now laid up at home in Brighton, on the very couch where he first made his name on Gogglebox and last appeared alongside husband Daniel Lustig-Webb. 

He added: “I’m stuck on the sofa. I’ve tried going on my crutches but I’ve slipped up a few times.

“Daniel went and got me a wheelchair but it’s made me feel really old and knackered. I’ve gone from feeling 21 to now feeling 61!”

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Perhaps Stephen is now regretting leaving his safe job on the settee?

He said: “Gogglebox is literally like family and I don’t know if the door is always open but we’re definitely on good terms and I think ‘never say never.’

“I do talk to a few of the gang still on WhatsApp and they’re all gutted, they’re saying ‘come back!’.

Whilst his big break has been delayed, Stephen’s now looking forward to a better 2024.

He had hoped to take part in the London Marathon for The Not Forgotten charity, which helps support veterans and wounded service personnel. 

Stephen added: “I want to bounceback after Christmas – you’ve definitely not seen the last of me.

“I think someone at ITV has mentioned doing Dancing on Ice again but the priority is obviously getting well now.

“I feel nervous about skating again. I need to be the bionic man, metal in all my joints! Then they could take me on The Jump.”