Jake Quickenden has won praise for his “brave” appearance on Loose Women.
The former X Factor star had his testicles examined live on-air during a special Loose Men episode on Friday.
The 34-year-old donned only a white robe as Dr. Amir Khan performed a check for testicular cancer – talking viewers through what they should be looking for at home.
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During the episode, Jake admitted that he feared getting checked in case they found something was wrong and had put it off.
“For me, not checking is a way of putting it to the back of my mind and not worrying about it,” he admitted. “Sometimes, I think that if I got checked and felt something, it would eat away at me. For me, it was always out of sight, out of mind.”
Jake explained that his family history of cancer made the anxiety associated to getting checked “worse”.
“But now, as I’ve got older and I’ve got kids, I’ve realised that’s a stupid thing,” he said.
“We need to make sure we’re alright as men and having that conversation.”
As he was being examined, Vernon Kay questioned the singer: “That’s not painful is it Jake?” to which he said: “No, not painful,” before he joked: “Gentle.”
Jake shared a snap of his examination with Dr. Amir Khan to Instagram, and fans were quick to praise his bravery.
One Instagram user commented: “recorded this for my 19-year-old son who says he is checking but obviously as his Mum I can’t exactly go in and check he’s doing it properly, this way he can see how it should be done. Well done as you say if it saves just one life by doing it that’s one less that cancer has claimed 👏xx.”
A second wrote: “Such a great thing to do to encourage more men to check themselves – you’ll have saved lives today @jakequickenden 🙌.”
Meanwhile, a third said: “Well done Jake for allowing yourself to be checked live on Tv. I have recorded it for my son and hubby to watch. I think you will have saved some lives making this awareness. Respect to you and the loose men team. X”
