TERRIFIED TV star Sam Thompson met Michael McIntyre with a knife when he mistook the comedian’s late-night prank for a burglary.
It came as Michael filmed his Big Show’s Midnight Gameshow segment in which a celebrity is surprised at home in bed.
Sam, 32, was asleep with then-girlfriend Zara McDermott when they heard a noise. At no stage did Sam or Zara threaten Michael.
A source said: “A family member was in on the joke and passed house keys to production. But when crew arrived they found the bedroom locked.
“Sam had a knife. He and Zara had heard a commotion and mistook it for burglars.”
Sources close to I’m A Celeb winner Sam said he had a small knife from an earlier meal and did not usually keep any blades in his bedroom.
On February 6, Sam confirmed the incident himself and told his co-star Pete Wicks on their Staying Relevant podcast: “It is so terrifying, he [Michael] comes in at 2am.
“The bedroom door was locked, so it was even scarier to us, I woke up to Zara going, ‘Sam, someone’s twisting the door knob’, and I was like, ‘We’re in A Nightmare on Elm Street’.
“I got a knife out my drawer. It was there from opening Christmas presents in bed.
“The door gets opened, he barges in and goes, ‘Welcome to Michael McIntyre’s Midnight Gameshow!’
“I can’t even describe the feeling of being so shocked, and half asleep, it was terrifying.”
The segment was filmed before Sam and Zara, 28, split in December.
The Big Show aired on January 18 without the knife drama.
Instead BBC screened a version where Sam lay in bed while Zara answered the door.
Michael, 48, hinted at the drama on The One Show, saying he had heard Sam and Zara “freaking out” behind their locked bedroom door.
He added, joking: “It’s not in the show and I probably shouldn’t be saying it but — you know, he had a weapon.
“Yes, there was a weapon – I could have died that night on the Midnight Gameshow at the hands of Sam Thompson.”
Sam has said of the segment: “Best experience ever mate, the coolest thing ever.”
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