When ex-Love Islander Chris Hughes took part in a live testicular exam on This Morning, he hoped to inspire men up and down the country to have conversations about their reproductive health.
What the 27-year-old didn’t bank on was that his own brother would make a life-changing discovery and receive a cancer diagnosis that would alter the course of his late twenties.
Chris and Ben Hughes teamed up with BBC Three to chart what happened next with cameras following them into doctor’s surgeries, around their family home and during intimate conversations with their partners.
The initial live examination - which has since been watched by 37 million people online - was less nerve-wracking than Love Island, Chris tells Standard Online, pointing out that he’s had numerous operations over the years to treat a varicoceles on one of his testicles.
“There have been so many doctors who have seen all of that, so it doesn't really faze me to be honest,” he explains over the phone. “That's the issue really, we have a problem with a lot of men in this world, with health, they put things off because they're scared to go to the doctors or they don't want people to see certain areas of their body when those [doctors] see things all the time.”
After the segment aired, positive reactions immediately poured in online and that evening, Ben carried out his own at-home health check - which is when he spotted something abnormal.
“He came into my bedroom at night after I did the examination. But I was kind of half asleep, it was like three in the morning,” Chris says. “And he was asking, 'I've found a lump’ and I was like ‘Well I'll look in the morning, I can't do anything now.’
“Then obviously, he went to the doctors, and the doctor sent him straight to the hospital for scans. That's when it became very, very real.”
Ben, who is just one year older than Chris, was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Before starting his treatment, he sought medical advice on freezing his sperm to use after the operation. It was then that he was dealt another blow, when doctors told him the sample he’d provided didn’t contain any sperm at all.
Meanwhile, Chris was six years overdue for a check-up appointment on his varicoceles and with Ben facing a devastating fertility struggle, he decided to bite the bullet and seek an update on his own reproductive health. The documentary charts this chapter of the brothers’ lives and also sees them meet numerous other men who have struggled with fertility issues.
It’s clear throughout that Chris - who has happily moved back to his family home in the Cotswolds after a handful of attempts to move out - looks up to his older sibling.
“We’ve always been close,” he says. “We’re fortunate [that] we’re a really close family. [Ben’s] got a very positive outlook on life.
“My brother's positive about everything, which is a mindset I'd love to be in. In that respect, he's very encouraging, it's quite a nice way to be.”
The film also features Hughes’ former girlfriend Jesy Nelson, who he split from after 16 months of dating during the early stages of lockdown. Is it weird watching them film, and seeing himself and Jesy looking loved-up and discussing the possibility of having kids?
“It's just one of the things you know, me and Jesy were always very supportive of each other. And, you know, we still are,” Chris says. “We're still friends, of course. For the documentary itself, that's something which is just very real. It was a real relationship. And essentially, that's part of life, isn't it? That's what people have to go through.
“The documentary portray[s] those conversations people have in relationships so it's just good for the documentary but yeah, like I said, we still support each other.”
His brother, meanwhile, is supported by his girlfriend Olivia, who is also seen coming to terms with the fact their plans to start a family may not go smoothly.
The siblings are far from alone in experiencing fertility issues and the film sees them learn that sperm counts in western men have more than halved in the past 40 years. Conversations about this, Chris says, are vital for men across the UK to witness.
“I knew nothing about male fertility, I learned everything as the documentary went on. I'm in a position where like most other men, we don't really know anything about it. You search on Google [for] fertility, and 90% of it is all women's information for that. It just goes to show how little men actually think about it but it's a 50/50 issue. So it should be spoken about by everyone.”
Me, My Brother and Our Balls will be available to watch on BBC Three on Wednesday, September 30.