Hospital Gown? No Deal for Howie Mandel

Game show host's obsessive-compulsive disorder makes hospital visits difficult

Howie Mandel may be back to work now, but the dramatic events following his heartbeat irregularity were intensified by his acute germophobia.

"I wouldn’t let them take off any of my clothing," the Deal or No Deal host told E! News' Ryan Seacrest. "I lied on the gurney, and I said, 'I can’t touch the sheets.' "

While some may have thought the Howie Do It prankster was joking around, 53-year-old Mandel has been open about his obsessive-compulsive disorder since the game show kicked off in 2006.

"The palpitations of the heart were because they had me on their sheets in the hospital," the comic joked.

In fact, the irregular heartbeat was discovered during an insurance company-mandated checkup while the star was on location in Toronto. The treatment—an EKG test followed by a shock procedure that returns the heartbeat to its proper pace—was immediate.

The real drama, he explained, happened after he left the hospital.

"I was walking across the hotel lobby, and that's the last thing that I remember," the former St. Elsewhere star said. He had fainted and was put into an ambulance and rushed back to the hospital.

"It is because I didn’t eat and the medication from the…anesthesia.

"I'm normal. I'm fine. I work out everyday. I'm still a healthy guy," said Mandel, who was back at work on Howie Do It yesterday. "Laughter has been the best medicine."