November 21st 2023.
TV star Todd Sampson has revealed a truly unsettling stomach wound that he declared was ‘too graphic’ to show on his series. The 52-year-old documentary-maker and TV presenter is best known for his work on Australian shows Gruen, The Project and Body Hack.
Todd is currently filming the third season of Mirror, Mirror, which explores body image dissatisfaction. This time around he’s probing the global multimillion-dollar wellness industry, putting his own body on the line and trying treatments such as cupping, silent meditation retreats, acupuncture and detoxing.
However, he’s now shown the stomach-churning wound that he’s been left with after letting leeches loose on his body. This week Todd posted a video of a bruised and bloodied open wound on his stomach, captioned with a warning that the footage was ‘too graphic for 7:30 time slot’.
In the clip, Todd pulled down the dressing on his stomach and revealed that the wound left from the leech treatment was covered in blood and still not closed. ‘Well, it’s the next morning. I want to change my wound and see what those leeches have done to me…here we go,’ he said as blood dripped from the wound. ‘Oh gross, oh boy. That does not look good!’
Unsurprisingly many people were taken aback by what they saw and expressed their shock and disgust. Former The Project host Charlie Pickering commented ‘Dude. You do not HAVE to do this!’ and someone else wrote ‘Me: “ohhh Todd Samson is sexy naked”. Me, 10 seconds later: “no”’.
The two-part series which airs this week will delve into common and unconventional health practices, including those that may seem extreme to viewers, like leech therapy. Admitting he has been a ‘wellness addict’ at many stages of his life, Todd has said he’s ‘done a lot of these treatments before’.
But after growing sceptical about the benefits and becoming uncomfortable with the rise of wellness influencers, he was worried people were turning to unqualified health advisers rather than doctors. ‘What I find frustrating is the lack of trust in science, the anti-medical approach that people are taking’ he told The Sydney Morning Herald.
In this series, he travels to the US to attempt to speak to Gwyneth Paltrow at Goop HQ and after attempts to interview Miranda Kerr were refused, he turned to her leech therapist in Florida, where he had a ‘leech facial’ using his own sucked blood.
Mirror Mirror: Are You Well? will air on Channel 10 in Australia. Would you try extreme wellness treatments like leech therapy? Comment Now to let us know your thoughts.
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