Speaking on Jamie Vardy's Having a Party podcast, the retired official said he and colleagues would compete to see how long they could go without blowing the whistle or leaving the centre circle during matches, sparking a furious response from former colleagues and pundits alike and prompting calls for the FA to investigate.
"There used to be games that we used to have, as a laugh, we used to say, 'Right, we'll kick off now, right? See how long we can go without blowing a whistle,'" Dean said.
"Done that a few times in the Premier, before VAR obviously. Went 20-25 minutes without blowing a whistle a few times. Let it go, let it go, let it go.
"I used to do another thing in the Premier League. I used to stand in the centre circle and see how long I could stay in the centre circle before I had to leave. That was just me joking about. The lads used to be on the line saying 'you can't'. I said 'I'll try it'. I just used to run around but don't come out of it. Got about 15 minutes once in one game, without leaving the centre circle."
Dean refereed 553 Premier League matches across more than two decades before retiring in 2022, going on to spend a further year working as a video assistant referee. Two of his former colleagues have since publicly disputed his account. Former official Graham Scott branded the claims "nonsense" in an interview with talkSPORT.
"I worked with Mike loads at times, they're not true stories," Scott said. "It's kind of the audio equivalent of clickbait isn't it, to try and get people interested and laughing. It's palpable nonsense. Mike Dean was of course an outstanding ref, but it makes it so much harder when retired referees either bash their former colleagues for the sake of it. It's fine to criticise, I do that, but do it with a bit of context and a bit of empathy."
Scott went further, challenging Dean directly.
"I challenge Mike and say, 'Okay, would you stand in front of the current refs and repeat all of those things?'" he said. "And of course he wouldn't, because they're not true."
Mark Halsey, another former Premier League referee, told BBC Sport he had never encountered anything like what Dean described.
"All my years as a professional referee, I have to say I've never heard of these games. Never," Halsey said. "And I have to say that I have never, ever thought about playing any sort of game, going out to referee. Because they're massive games, you've got the fans, you've got the players, you've got the managers, the delegates, the coaches.
"So I'm astounded, and if Mike has played these games, then he's done that on his own accord. And if he has, then I think we need to know what games he's done them in? How many games he's done them in? And it brings into question the integrity of every official."
Former Aston Villa striker Gabriel Agbonlahor also criticised Dean's comments on talkSPORT, saying he was "throwing himself under the bus" by making the claims. Refereeing in English football is now overseen by Pro Ref, the recently rebranded successor to the Professional Game Match Officials Limited, which has been approached for comment.