TV Anchor Kate McCann Faints During Live Debate

TV anchor Kate McCann is doing “fine” after she fainted on-air during a live debate. McCann, who left her role as a political correspondent at Sky News to join TalkTV as its political editor in January, was hosting The Sun and TalkTV Tory leadership debate between Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss in late July when the show abruptly cut out and was taken off air amid the medical emergency.

The scary incident occurred about 30 minutes into the debate as Truss was in the middle of answering a question. Viewers tuning in from home could hear a loud thud and saw as Tuss reacted in shock, immediately stopping her reply.Moments later, the broadcast was cut, with a message appearing on the screen that read, “‘We’re sorry for the disruption to this programme. We’re working hard to fix the issue and will return to normal programming soon.” Not long after, it was announced that the debate was canceled, with TalkTV, per BBC, saying that McCann was “fine,” but the channel was given “medical advice” not to continue the broadcast.

Opening up about the incident, McCann wrote for The Sunday Times that she “had eaten” prior to the debate and there were “no warning signs” other than normal “good heart-hammering nerves” when the broadcast began. The last thing she remembers, McCann explained, “is thinking ‘this next question is going to be the one’ and for the first time in 30 minutes of debate, allowing myself to relax. Then suddenly my body wasn’t where it was supposed to be and someone I couldn’t see was asking me my age.”

“I couldn’t work out why anyone would need to know that in the middle of a discussion about Ukraine and I remember thinking how rude it was for either candidate to ask,” McCann continued. “Then came the creeping sense of panic as my brain started to catch up with my body, which wasn’t at the lectern facing Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the Conservative leadership candidates, but on the floor of a television studio surrounded by faces I didn’t recognise.”

McCann revealed that those at the studio in Ealing, west London initially believed “a light had fallen from the ceiling and hit me,” while others “wondered if protesters had burst in.” She added, “I have fainted before, years ago. This was certainly far more public.” McCann assured fans that although she is a “little embarrassed” and a “little bruised” following the incident, she is now fine.