Coronation Street spoilers follow.
Coronation Street star Luca Toolan has revealed he had an awkward naked encounter with a fan.
The star joined the soap last year as Mason Radcliffe, with the evil character making a bold entry to Weatherfield, with recent months seeing him bully Liam Connor.
Whilst Mason exhibits increasingly unnerving and deplorable characteristics, Toolan revealed to Digital Spy and other press that fans of the soap largely greet him welcomely, recalling a rather unfortunate mishap at a sauna.
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"I don't know if this is too much information, but I was literally in the gym and obviously I'm getting changed to go in the sauna and you have to take your pants off. So I'm there butt naked, and I hear someone go 'Oi Mason' [when] I'm just sitting there.
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"I think it's all tongue in cheek - people aren't stupid. There's a very small minority of people who get invested so much that they can't separate [Mason] from me, which I understand to a certain extent because I think we all do it when we're watching TV or movies when you hate a character.
"I do understand it because a show like Corrie is so consistent and so close to life, you know it's not like I'm in Star Wars or stuff in Manchester. So sometimes people do but the majority it's just tongue in cheek."
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The star also spoke about his own personal experience of playing such a malevolent character, revealing that he often struggles to watch the scenes back, saying: "Oh I hate it. I don't mean that in a self-conscious actor way - I hate what he does.
"For the most part I watch it with my family and they just look at me like: 'Is this what you're capable of?' I guess that lends itself in a way the strength of the storyline and the characters. If it can have that effect on me then hopefully it can have that effect on others."
Coronation Street airs on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8pm on ITV1 and streams on ITVX.
Read more Coronation Street spoilers on our dedicated homepage
Coronation Street has been working on Liam's storyline with support from the National Bullying Helpline (0300 323 0169 between 9am-5pm on weekdays, and 10am-12 midday on Saturdays, or email help@nationalbullyinghelpline.co.uk).
Further organisations which can offer help include Samaritans on 116 123 or Mind on 0300 123 3393. Readers in the US are encouraged to visit mentalhealth.gov or the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
