Noel picks up 'telephone elbow'

Noel Edmonds is suffering from repetitive strain injury because he has to keep picking up the phone on his show Deal Or No Deal.

The 57-year-old TV star was diagnosed with the unusual occupational injury after he complained of agonising pain in his right elbow.

His consultant said it must have been caused by repeatedly answering a heavy telephone as part of the popular Channel 4 game show. Edmonds said: "It's a bit ridiculous, but I am in agony.

"After 40 years in entertainment, I can at last boast that I have suffered an industrial injury."

In Deal Or No Deal contestants play to win up to £250,000 hidden in sealed boxes.

Periodically the players receive a call from "the Banker", a shadowy character who negotiates to buy their box.

It was picking up the phone to answer the Banker's calls that apparently caused Edmonds's injury.

He said: "The phone is pretty heavy and I have to pick it up a dozen times a show.

"We shoot three shows a day and it got so painful that I could hardly pick the bleeding thing up.

"I didn't know what was wrong so I went to a consultant in Bristol last week and she diagnosed it as repetitive strain injury, rather like tennis elbow.

"She said she was a huge fan of the show and was sure that it must be from picking up the phone."

Edmonds's ailment will not affect the filming of the show - he has been instructed to use a new technique to pick up the handpiece and a camera angle has been changed so it does not look strange.

Earlier this month Edmonds said he had seen a string of "wishes" come true after placing his faith in a German book called Cosmic Ordering Service. These include his plea for a "new challenge", which he says came in the form of the show.

The presenter has now signed a £500,000 deal to write self-help book.