EXCLUSIVE: The Deal or No Deal contestant said while being on the ITV show with Stephen Mulhern was an experience of a lifetime, she is ready to “close that chapter”

A Deal or No Deal contestant joked she felt “physically unwell” after recording her round on the ITV show. Helen McPherson, who won an impressive £19,000 in a nail-biting game aired in January, waited 14 months for her episode to be broadcast.

In the run-up to viewers finally discovering her fate, Helen admitted that watching episodes featuring fellow contestants brought back the intense emotions she experienced during filming.

“The funny thing is, watching it back now, I’m literally like chewing chunks out of my hand,” she admitted. “My husband is like, ‘Hels, you were there, you know what happened’.

“But, you forget so much of it and I feel the emotions as intensely as I did when I was there.

“And when I came back, I was physically unwell from the adrenaline crash and then I was okay again and now it’s the reliving it all.

“My cortisol levels are up [high] every time I watch someone else’s game,” she humorously added on her TikTok page.

Stephen Mulhern hosts ITV’s Deal or No Deal (Image: ITV)

“Even though I was there and know how it went, there’s so much of it that I don’t remember.”

Speaking exclusively to us, Helen said watching one particular episode left her “feet tingling”.

“I felt like I was going to throw up, I was like, ‘You’re going to have to turn it off babe I cannot watch’,” she added.

At the time of filming, which lasted several weeks, the mother-of-two was a self-employed hairdresser and lost earnings as a result of taking part.

However, her winnings proved to be worth it, with the contestant describing her time on the show as “an experience of a lifetime”.

Speaking to host Stephen Mulhern ahead of her game, Helen said she hoped to put money towards a new car and family adventures.

The contestant has since revealed that the life-changing experience has also allowed her to become a full-time content creator.

Deal or No Deal contestant Helen McPherson won £19,000 on the show (Image: INSTAGRAM/HELENMCPHERSON)

Meanwhile, while she is grateful to have been part of the show, Helen joked that it may soon be time to disconnect.

“The people I knew from when I was there, as soon as they started appearing I started watching it,” she explained.

“And then I feel like once the last person I knew in real life has played theirs, I’m going to have to stop watching for a bit and just sort of like close that chapter because it has sort of consumed a lot of my head space.

“It’s time to move on, I don’t want to be defined for the rest of my life like ‘that one time on Deal or No Deal’.”

During our conversation, Helen also spoke about meeting host Stephen, having been a huge fan of his for years.

Helen McPherson said Stephen Mulhern was ‘the ultimate professional’ (Image: ITV)

“I said a lot of stupid things,” she laughed.

“Towards the end, I do remember digging my fingernails into his arm so hard, it was like I was giving birth and he was like my husband. It was bonkers,” she added.

Praising Stephen as “the ultimate professional”, Helen continued: “I didn’t expect him to be so kind and generous with his time.

“Like, he would make an effort to talk to us all and he remembered details that I told him about my son, like what a big fan he was of him.

“He would just remember stuff and I just thought, b****y hell. Like, you don’t have to do that.

“I thought he’d just be whisked in at the last minute, do it and then go but actually [he wasn’t].”

Deal or No Deal airs weekdays from 4pm on ITV and ITVX.