Published Thursday, 21 March 2013
The What Makes You Beautiful hitmakers called for medics to tend to the so-called fan, only to discover the scare was in fact part of a TV gag for their Saturday Night Takeaway show.
The Geordie pair donned prosthetic make-up and wigs so the boys didn't recognise them for the stunt.
The co-hosts headed to Madison Square Garden in New York to meet the band under the ruse that Donnelly was a young New Zealand fan named Jack while McPartlin was a fictitious TV host.
McPartlin tells the Daily Mirror: "Dec dressed up as one (a fan) from New Zealand and I was Ben, a TV host from there. I introduced him to the group - and the meeting didn't go as planned but they fell for it."
Donnelly adds: "They panicked and I hyperventilated. They called medical emergencies (sic). It was such fun and they fell for it... On the 1D tour they met two fans from every nation. We heard the only two who didn't go were from New Zealand and thought, 'This is our way in.' We were all over them."
The episode of Saturday Night Takeaway will air on UTV on Saturday 23 March.