British TV personality Alison Hammond was rushed to the hospital after abruptly leaving the set of the U.K.’s This Morning.
During the Friday, October 2, broadcast, Hammond, 51, quickly left the set while cohost Dermot O’Leary spoke with veterinarian Dr. Scott Miller via the phone.
“Ali is just a little unwell, so she’s just had to duck out,” O’Leary, 53, told viewers during the next segment. “Hopefully she’ll be back in a sec.”
Moments later, O’Leary revealed that Hammond would not return for the remainder of the episode after “feeling a little unwell.”
Hammond addressed her hasty onscreen exit via her Instagram Stories, sharing a video taken from a hospital bed.
“Hello, my lovelies, I know you’re all worried about me,” the TV star said on Friday. “Honestly, I am fine, first of all. I’m getting my old ticker checked out [after] I had a little bit of a palpitation, and now I’m getting it all checked out.”
Hammond continued, “I think I’m all OK. I’m hoping it was just a little panic attack or something like that.”
While Hammond awaits a concrete diagnosis, she expressed her gratitude to her supporters.
“I love you all. Thank you for all your lovely messages,” she added. “I’m so sorry I left you. I would never normally do that. I would never leave a TV show, so you know I wasn’t very well. Hopefully, I’m going to be all right. The doctors are so lovely, and they’re checking me out, and hopefully everything’s going to be fine.”
Hammond first appeared on This Morning in 2003, becoming an official cohost in 2021. Two years later, Hammond also became one of the hosts of The Great British Bake Off alongside Noel Fielding.
“I pinch myself hosting This Morning and now this, I’m pinching myself all the time,” she told The Mirror in 2023 of her new role on the hit baking show. “My mum absolutely loved Bake Off. I can bake, but I’m like [celebrity chef] Jamie Oliver; I chuck it all in and hope it works.”
According to Hammond, she had “never wanted a job so bad” as hosting Bake Off.
“I had to audition for it, and the maddest thing is, I was like, ‘Don’t you know who I am?’ I had to do this chemistry test with Noel, and they were all watching me,” she recalled. “I said, ‘Hi Noel, look at the chemistry.’ They then handed me a script and I thought, ‘That’s the audition done,’ but they said, ‘No, you’ve got to do a bit more,’ so they took me to a garden center and told me they wanted to see me interview people.”
