TV

Ex-Marine Steve Wilkos battles his way to 1,000 episodes

Who would’ve thought that Jerry Springer’s onetime TV bodyguard would have a talk show marking 1,000 episodes?

The syndicated “Steve Wilkos Show” will hit that milestone on Friday, with a retrospective episode that looks back on the conflict talker’s craziest moments in its seven-seasons-and-counting run — and also features a surprise special guest (noon on WPIX/Ch. 11).

“It feels great on so many levels,” Wilkos told The Post. “When my show was announced seven years ago, I don’t think people gave it much of a chance. It was like, ‘Jerry Springer’s bodyguard is getting a show,’ and people were laughing [and saying] ‘that’s not going to last.’

“Look at the last couple years — Anderson Cooper, Ricki Lake, Jeff Probst — much bigger names getting shows and they didn’t make it,” Wilkos says.

“So it’s a testament to myself and the people that work on my show.”

Since “Wilkos” first premiered in 2007, its ratings have grown 42 percent, with the show average 1.8 million viewers in its current seventh season. “Wilkos” — which moved from the host’s native Chicago to Stamford, Conn., in 2009 (better tax breaks) — is also tops in adults and women 18-49 in its timeslot on Ch. 11.

“I think we do stories that nobody else covers,” Wilkos says of the show’s longevity, including topics like child abuse in addition to the bread-and-butter cheating scandals of daytime talk.

“The same type of stories I worked on when I was police officer in Chicago, we do on the stage,” he says, “and I think that’s the appeal of the show.”

Wilkos, a former Marine, served with the Chicago Police Department for nearly 12 years before retiring to focus on “The Jerry Springer Show,” where he was a frequent fill-in host, which helped him land his own show.

In 2012, “Steve Wilkos” was renewed through September 2016, which means its host can now sit back and enjoy his time on the show and his life in Connecticut with his wife Rachelle (also his executive producer) and their two children.

“Now I have a chance to take a breath and enjoy the fact that I have a show. In the beginning you’re working so hard and traveling so much to get people to watch the show that you’re really not enjoying the ride,” Wilkos says, noting that he hopes to be marking his 2,000th show in seven more years. “I love doing it [and] have no plans on quitting any time soon.”

That means there’s plenty more polygraph tests, outrageous confessions, and of course, chair-throwing — Wilkos’ trademark move — coming down the pike.

And, in case you’re wondering, Wilkos does have a favorite throw — though he couldn’t tell you what prompted it.

“It happened in Chicago when we were still filming there. It might have even been the first time I threw a chair, and I threw it and it stuck right into the wall, all four legs,” he recalls.

“It caught everybody off-guard, even myself. They actually cut a wall out of the stage and we have the wall with the chair stuck into the wall here in Stamford now.”

Talk about a host with staying power.