Howie Mandel is a notorious germaphobe, but Trish Stratus says it’s gotten better.
Stratus appeared on GAW TV this week, and co-host Lisa Marie Varon asked her about hosting Canada’s Got Talent with Howie Mandel. It is well-known in the entertainment industry that Mandel suffers from mysophobia, an irrational fear of germs.
Mandel doesn’t like to shake hands with people. However, he will sometimes give a fist or elbow bump. (Or touch Sofia Vergara’s feet.) Stratus says Howie is comfortable hugging people he knows, then shared a story about how he’s been able to manage the impulse on the set.
“Yes, we do [bump elbows], he’s into that. But we do hug. We hug. I’m going to tell you, he’s OK with hugging people he knows. He’s controlled it a little, actually, over the years, he has. He’s controlled it that whole [ick factor] of it all,” Stratus explained.
“So he’s OK to do — there was one point in the beginning that I remember, in the first season. And there was a pole dancer, he just went up on stage,” she noted. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God…’ and he went and he was on the pole. I’m like, ‘Oh, he must be over this germ thing’ but [he wasn’t completely] Do it for the camera, one of those things. [laughs] He’ll hug with caution.”
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