He was one of the most recognisable faces of children's TV. Then he disappeared.

The real story about what happened to Steve from Blue’s Clues.

Steve Burns was a 21-year-old with long hair when he auditioned for Blue’s Clues in 1995.

A few years later, his name was synonymous with childhoods around the world – including my own.

I grew up watching Blue’s Clues. The ridiculous kids show about a man and his dog who got overly excited about mail and made very exaggerated facial expressions shaped my childhood.

Burns became famous for his role on Blue’s Clues. And then one day – in 2002, after six years on the show – he vanished.

Soon after, a rumour began circling that he was a drug overdose. And a couple of months later, the world’s media got word that Burns had died. His drug addiction had been his demise, it was reported. It became such a huge media story, in fact, that his mother almost believed it and called him to check that he was still alive.

But some people weren’t happy with that explanation for his disappearance. So a rumour started that he had died in a car accident.

Whichever story you heard or chose to believe, one thing was clear to most of the world: Steve Burns was dead. Our Steve from Blue’s Clues had been killed in some terrible, horrible way. It’s become a pretty widely known fact.

Except that he didn’t die of a drug overdose. Or a car crash.

He’s alive, and well – as well as we can tell from social media. And he’s making a joke out of being the subject of the most believed death hoax of our time.

Steve Burns is now an indie rocker who lives in Brooklyn, New York. He hates Manhattan (something I will never understand) and he has a strange obsession with Wallmart. He takes his fake death in his stride, posting jokes about being a “dead former TV host” from his Twitter, where he’s known as ‘Steve Burns Alive’.

And as for the real reason he left Blue’s Clues? He was losing his hair.

Now that we’ve solved one of the biggest mysteries of our time, there’s only one thing left to do: Bring back Steve and bring back Blue’s Clues.

Click through the gallery below to see what Steve tweets about. Hint: It’s mostly Walmart.

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