BBC Countryfile presenter Matt Baker expressed his gratitude to his wife, who was thankfully by his side when he suddenly fell ill during a work trip
Countryfile star Matt Baker has spoken about the horrifying moment he discovered he had a pork allergy. The 48-year-old said the incident happened during a work trip to Nuremberg, Germany, where he had travelled to pick up a donkey for a segment on Blue Peter.
The presenter has long spoken fondly about the memories he made while working on the show, which he presented from 1999 to 2006. However, one moment remains in his mind for all the wrong reasons.
During the trip, Matt recalled visiting a market with his wife, which sold a range of food and drink containing pork. After sampling several pork-based items, the presenter said he suffered an anaphylactic shock in the early hours of the following morning.
“Thank goodness my then girlfriend, who’s now my wife, came with us because I had an anaphylactic shock on the bathroom floor from pork,” he added on The Harry Hill show.
Matt said he later learned that the allergy runs in his family, with his mum having always been unable to eat pork. However, he had never connected this to himself, having previously enjoyed pork crackling.
He believes eating such a large amount in one go “tipped [him] over the edge” and he hasn’t been able to eat pork since.
Matt said he was treated in hospital after falling ill, but recalled returning to filming the following day because of his work commitments.
It’s not the first time the presenter has spoken openly about his health. In a recent interview, he revealed that he has been diagnosed with ADHD and dyslexia.
Dyslexia, in particular, made him fearful of presenting live on television, where he would often have to read from an autocue.
He told The Yorkshire Post in 2022: “The scariest thing someone can do to me is hand me an email on live television and ask me to read it out. It does something to me.
“It’s absolutely petrifying. Whatever I read, I learn. I block it all out in ways which means I can recognise sentences,” he added.
“We [people with dyslexia] recognise words but we don’t read them as such. It’s like flash cards all the time. If you see something, you say what you think it is and then you dig yourself out of it if you’re wrong.”
Matt previously fronted The One Show, a live evening programme, alongside Alex Jones. He stepped away from the role in 2019 after nine years.
He has since gone on to set up his own production company alongside executive producer Gareth Collett.
The shows they have created so far include Our Dream Farm with Matt Baker and Our Farm in the Dales.
Countryfile airs tonight at 7pm on BBC One
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