I put on so much weight I got jammed in the Grand Canyon in a terrifying ordeal, admits Nick Knowles

DIY SOS star Nick Knowles put on so much weight he got stuck in the Grand Canyon making his new telly show.

The presenter, who ballooned to 18st in lockdown, got jammed in a crevice in caves beneath the spectacular US rock formation.

DIY SOS star Nick Knowles put on so much weight he got stuck in the Grand Canyon making his new telly showNick, who piled on four stone during lockdown, says the experience was ‘seriously terrifying’

Nick, 60, said: “You have to go through ‘horizontal chimneys’ which are for real cavers, who are like whippets — they’re tiny, skinny people.

“But my director was like, ‘Go through here, and there’s a cave on the other side which we can talk in’.

“But half way along, I was like, ‘I can’t do this, this is just too much’. I had palpitations, it was seriously terrifying. 

“There was a point where I was wedged, I couldn’t get my shoulders through and I was wedged. My heart started to go and I was, ‘Breath, breath, breath’.”

Nick, who has hosted BBC makeover show DIY SOS since 1999, was eventually freed with the help of a caver, who then mocked him.

Speaking on Radio X, he recalled: “The caver said to me, ‘So how are you feeling about your life choices?’.”

Nick piled on 4st during lockdown in 2020 because he quit training and has tried in vain to shift all the timber.

The drama happened as he filmed Into The Grand Canyon, which is on Channel 5 tonight. 

Nick added: “It’s all very well when you see Bear Grylls go off and do these things.

“It’s much more interesting if you get a bloke off the sofa and say, ‘Crawl through these crevices’ or ‘Walk off the side of this cliff’.”