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The Love Trap’s David Birtwistle reveals Joel Dommett had to comfort him over a panic attack behind-the-scenes

David found Joel a great support on and off camera (Picture: Instagram @david.birtwistle/Channel 4)

The Love Trap star David Birtwistle has revealed emotions ran high during filming, with host Joel Dommett stepping when he suffered a panic attack.

The Channel 4 show sees 12 women try and secure the attention of singleton David, as he attempts to figure out which girls are love traps – those already in relationships and vying for the £25,000 cash prize.

The series soon captured the attention of viewers for its unconventional approach, and sees David pick a girl to dump each week before she is quite literally dumped through a trap door.

But the star admitted the pressure of wanting to ‘do right by everyone’ did get a bit much, and at one point he suffered a panic attack.  

He told Metro.co.uk: ‘It wasn’t an easy process to go through, I had to rely so much on my instincts and how I felt. It was really important to try and go off feeling rather than thinking through too much and being too logical.

‘Obviously, sometimes it did get a bit much and there were tough moments and one [in particular], where just the weight of the whole situation and the emotions of the other girls and everything just got a bit too much and I had a bit of a panic attack.’

David found things a bit much at one point (Picture: David Birtwistle/Channel 4/The Love Trap )

Despite the difficult moment for David to experience, he told us how calm Joel was in helping him to deal with the situation.

David went on to say: ‘I just needed to have a moment and Joel was so supportive! He came over and gave me a cuddle.

David Birtwhistle on The Love Trap (Picture: Channel 4)

‘I was crying through kind of stress and the pressure of the situation and wanting to do right by everyone, and he was so great, he looked after me and we talked things through.’

The contestant recognised how although the show is very ‘fun and entertaining,’ there is still ‘real emotion’ involved.

‘It was nice to have Joel there to kind of support me through that moment,’ he added.

Whilst the pressure of trying to make the right decisions sometimes got a bit much, David reassured the show had a great team on-hand to help himself and others.

More: Channel 4

He confirmed: ‘There was always support from the team. There’s a psychiatrist that was always on hand if I ever needed to speak to someone, and the team was super supportive. It was not like there wasn’t any support.

‘I think that the whole industry has really taken note of what people need and the psychological pressure that people go under when they go through shows like this.’

The Love Trap airs Wednesdays from 10pm on Channel 4.

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