Star of Channel 4's The Hunt rushed to hospital after suffering 17 seizures just weeks after filming show - leaving him paralysed and unable to speak

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A star of Channel 4's The Hunt: Prey Vs Predator has opened up about how he was rushed to hospital after suffering from 17 seizures just weeks after he filmed the show. 

The new show, described as a 'game of cat-and-mouse' sees 10 players battle it out for the £100k prize pot. 

Nathan, 33, who has functional neurological disorder (FND), was one of the contestants who signed up to the first ever series of the programme. 

'Functional neurological disorder (FND) describes a problem with how the brain receives and sends information to the rest of the body,' the NHS Inform website states. 

Unfortunately, dentist Nathan, who is the founder of peer support network FND North West Community Hub, didn't last long in the competition and was the first to be given the boot. 

Living with the condition is one of the motivating factors that made him sign up for the show.

Speaking ahead of FND awareness day (March 25), Nathan exclusively told The Daily Mail: 'When I saw it, I thought, "Oh, this is something to challenge myself and prove that I can still sort of do things". 

A star of Channel 4's The Hunt: Prey Vs Predator has opened up about how he was rushed to hospital after suffering from 17 seizures just weeks after he filmed the show 

Nathan, 33, who has functional neurological disorder (FND), was one of the contestants who signed up to the first ever series of the programme

'So my main motivating factor was just to be like, I'm not going to be stopped by my diagnosis. 

'I was diagnosed in August of 2024 with functional neurological disorder.

'And at the time, I was just getting left hand side weakness, and I was having seizures, but I was still working, and day to day living normally, shall we say? 

'So, I think it was just for me to prove that I could still do it, which we fast forward to where we are now, and that's not the case.'

Unfortunately shortly after filming the show, Nathan had a flare up and ended up in hospital - which he has explained had nothing to do with taking part in the series. 

He told us: 'I didn't see a neurologist again until my big flare up, which put me in hospital for three months.

'That happened on June 4 2025, so literally a week or two after filming The Hunt. Which is just crazy.

'So I feel really privileged that I got the chance to do such an amazing show before my life changed forever. 

'We'd gone to the spa for my wife's 40th birthday, just having a really relaxing day, and then we went up to the hotel room, I had 17 seizures within an hour, and was blue lighted into Blackpool Victoria, at which point I couldn't speak, couldn't say a word, and I was paralyzed from the hip down on the left hand side.'

Talking about his recovery, Nathan said: 'I spent three months within two hospitals and a rehab facility, relearning to walk and talk, and I now use like a Zimmer frame when I'm in the house to get around.

'But if we're outdoors or anything over like 30 meters, I have to use a wheelchair, which has been a huge adjustment. 

'It's so crazy. It's so crazy to think this time last year I was running around a Bulgarian forest. Now I'm out of breath wheeling up the street.'

Although Nathan hadn't suffered from his flare at the time of filming, he did end up having a seizure, which just highlights that is what it is like living with the condition. 

The programme sees the group of prey running around an 100-acre wood in Bulgaria, trying to find the challenges, which will allow them to get hold of money. 

But it's not that easy because the predators are doing everything they can to catch them... and if they do, they swap roles. 

Recalling how it was taking part in the actual hunt, Nathan said: 'I was just running on adrenaline. 

'I really do think I was just running on adrenaline, because we came back from that hunt, I was absolutely blowing out my a**, knackered, upset and I was disappointed in myself for failing at tagging him. 

'I had the adrenaline crash after the hunt, and I ended up actually having a seizure whilst we were on a break between filming. 

'I must say, every single member of the production crew and everything, they really looked after me, and they couldn't have done enough. 

'I felt very well supported, because, you know, it is a risk going on to a show like this when you live with a disability. 

'But I was very well looked after. And I can't thank them all enough.'

He added: 'That hunt will affect you, even if you're a physically fully able body. It is both physically and mentally draining while you're out there, but that's what we signed up for!'

The dad-of-six first started getting symptoms of NFD back in 2022, but ignored them and 'kept plowing on with busy life' as most people do. 

Nathan, who is currently out of work due to his illness, was looking after six kids, his own business and working as a dentist at the time. 

He explained: 'I was never really listening to my body and taking the breaks when probably should have done and I think we're all a bit guilty of that, aren't we? Life's got to just keep going.   

'And then I started with the seizures, so I was sent to a neurologist, and then they obviously found out there wasn't epileptic seizures, they were non epileptic seizures. 

'And then I was diagnosed with functional neurological disorder after tests and conversations with a neurologist.

'But like many that have FND, once you're given this diagnosis, it's for a lot of us, and for me, it was the first time I'd ever even heard of the term.

'I had no idea what it was, and there's not a lot in the way of support or treatment pathways within the NHS.

'We were signposted to a website, and then that was literally it.'

Nathan still has seizures to this day, as well as paralysis in the left hand side, but he is very happy with where he is at right now. 

'I have made so much progress since June 2025, I'm so happy with where I'm at. I've still got so much more to progress and so much further to go,' he said. 

'The mobility is slightly plateaued since around August last year, but I keep plodding on and keep I trying, working really hard in neurophysio, doing everything that I can do to try and get back. 

'I've vlogged my journey of recovery, so from right back, from day one in hospital to now. 

'I think again, this was to, one, make people feel less alone if they see it and think, "Oh, someone else is going through this."

'And also, for me, it's really nice to look back and see how far I have come. And also helps me make sense of what's happened, because it can be a real toll on your mental health as well, to go through something like this. 

'I think my wife cried for like 50 days non stop, but we're both in such a better positive place about it now, hindsight is a beautiful thing, isn't it?'

Stream The Hunt: Prey vs Predator on Channel 4.com now