Yahoo News Zoe Ball says 'meltdown' on TV caused by medical condition
Zoe Ball details her struggles filming Taskmaster with ADHD
Zoe Ball has said she had a "meltdown" while filming a TV show spurred on by her attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is a condition that affects people’s behaviour and people with ADHD can seem restless. They also can struggle with their concentration and act impulsively, according to the NHS website.
Filming Taskmaster's New Year's Treat proved to be a struggle for the 53-year-old when she faced one task which involved mathematical timings and a toaster. The radio presenter confessed the task brought on a "melt down" and it "hurt" her head.
She told The Mirror: "I have 18 pairs of glasses and I will still lose them all… My brain is just all over the goddamn shop. So a particular task involved a bit of timing, which is maths, which is again, not a strength, I physically started to melt down. That did hurt my head."
Taskmaster 2024
Taskmaster's festive special airs on January 2 in 2024 but it was filmed in front of a live studio audience on November 27. Ball joined the star-studded line-up for the show including Dragon's Den star Deborah Meaden, Steve Backshall, Lenny Rush and Kojey Radical.
TV hosts Greg Davies and Alex Horne set the bizarre set of challenges to put the celebrity contestants through their paces on the reality show. The most recent series saw Sam Campbell crowned the winner after competing against fellow comedians Julian Clary, Lucy Beaumont, Sue Perkins and Susan Wokoma.
Zoe Ball on ADHD
Elsewhere in the interview, Ball opened up about her experiences with ADHD and how it makes her laugh. She also revealed her son Woody, 21, is very similar to her because they both have been diagnosed with ADHD.
"I am ADHD," she explained. "My son and I are both, we’re quite similar. I make myself laugh sometimes, because if I’m in a small space and I’ve got loads of tasks to do, I can cover so many iles. My family, they laugh because they’ll find things of mine in certain places and they’re like, ‘If you follow this, you’ll see what mum was trying to achieve.'"
As she gets older, she said she has become more carefree. She said: "I’m just hoping for more daft adventures. I’m in my 50s and I’m like, I’m having so much fun."
Sam Thompson on ADHD
Many stars have opened up about their experience with ADHD. Most recently, reality TV star Sam Thompson revealed his own journey with ADHD while he starred on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. He told his campmates about how it impacted him at school, saying: "No-one really spotted it beforehand at school, but if you look at all of my report cards, every single one says the same, it says: ‘Likeable enough guy, but lacks focus.’"
He added: "It’s staring at you in the face. If I’d known as a kid, not much would have changed, but how you feel about yourself probably changes. I remember crying into my textbook because I can’t understand the words that are going into my head. You want to do good. You don’t want to be mischievous or anything like that."
Later on his own in a piece to camera in the jungle, he further explained: "I’m not ashamed of having ADHD in any way. But I know that I would have felt better about myself at school if I had been diagnosed with it at a younger age because I really was just like: 'I just suck at everything.'"
