Grant Denyer reveals truth behind near-death TV moment: 'Pretty serious'

Grant Denyer has shared details about his near-death experience filming last year’s season of The Amazing Race and revealed that the incident was much more serious in real life than what was shown on TV.

During the episode, Grant lost consciousness and collapsed in the middle of a dance challenge in India with his wife Chezzi. He appeared disoriented and dehydrated in the extreme heat and shivered on the floor as medics rushed to his side.

The Gold Logie winner, who is the new host of Channel 10’s Deal or No Deal, tells Yahoo Lifestyle that he had suffered severe heatstroke which was “pretty serious” and “scared a lot of people that day”.

“It was very dramatic,” he remarks. “Most of the time in television we tend to turn the drama up and this time we turned it down a little bit in the telecast because it was pretty confronting.

“I didn't realise how hardcore and potentially fatal [heatstroke] is, so thankfully I wasn't aware of that when I was in the situation. But when you're dropping in and out of consciousness and you're convulsing on the floor, it's not easy on everyone that's around you at that time.

“I scared the hell out of my wife and I know that there was a producer there on the ground that was holding my head and yelling at me, ‘Stay with us, stay with us’. I think she thought she was losing me several times that day.”

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Grant explains that it took him seven weeks to fully recover after the medical emergency and he could barely get out of bed.

“It really knocked me around,” he says. “There were a few tears when we watched it back. We sat down with our girls so they had an understanding of what we'd been through and what everyone else was talking about so they could hear it from our lips.

“It was tough for Chez because she had to relive the trauma a little bit all over again, but we’re good now. It took me a bit to recover but I’m back to back to full strength.”

'Really disappointing'

Despite the life-threatening nature of the reality show, Grant says he would love to return to The Amazing Race this year to finish what he and his wife started.

“I love the show and it was an opportunity that was supposed to be for my wife,” he shares. “It was her chance to kind of go out and do her thing and let Australia fall in love with her and know exactly what we know about her - that she's an absolute powerhouse and she's a beautiful, funny, brave mama bear.

“I wanted my girls to sort of see how kick-a** she is and I kind of ruined it by collapsing and knocking us out of the competition. To be honest, it was really disappointing and I feel really silly and a bit embarrassed about the way that it ended.

“So I’d do it again with her for sure. You can't win them all, but it was not the way we wanted to go out.”

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