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A man who gets drunk after eating potatoes has told how his loved ones were convinced he was a secret alcoholic.

Nick Hess has rare auto-brewery syndrome, meaning carbohydrates ferment into alcohol inside him.

But before his diagnosis, worried wife Karen filmed his slurring and stumbling, which he did not recall.

Nick, 35, said: “When she first accused me of being drunk, without drinking, I thought she was crazy. But friends and family thought, ‘maybe he is over there, drinking by himself, a secret alcoholic’.”

(Image: Getty)

And when he saw Karen’s footage, Nick, from Columbus, Ohio, said: “I looked into my eyes and could see I wasn’t there. It was terrifying, I couldn’t remember it.”

Doctors eventually discovered Nick, who is on BBC Two’s World’s Weirdest Events on Thursday, has auto-brewery, plus yeast levels 400% higher than normal.

He now controls it with a carb-free diet and medication.

Presenter Chris Packham says on the show: “Having your own little distillery in your belly isn’t as much fun as you might think.”