A Canadian TV reporter almost fainted as she appeared to suffer a frightening medical emergency live on air this weekend, leaving viewers shocked. Jessica Robb, a reporter with CTV, started stumbling over her words and having trouble finishing sentences while she was reporting to anchor Nahreman Issa from the field in Edmonton on Sunday.
Robb began repeating her words and told the host: "I'm not feeling well," before going off air as fans became concerned about her health. Her report had to be cut short, and Nahreman Issa, the studio host, assured viewers that Robb was supported and was not alone. She later recovered and was fine.
Almost Fainted on Air
Robb was on air when she realized that she was unwell and about to faint. "Sorry, Nahreman," Robb said in footage aired by TMZ on Monday. "I'm not feeling very well right now and I'm about to....."
Things were initially perfect when Robb started her reporting. Robb opened the section by rationally discussing the feelings of the victims' relatives three years after Iranian armed forces shot down Flight PS752.
"Families are pushing the feds to... pushing the feds to..." she said, as she suddenly started tripping over her words and stuttering.
As Robb's words start to fade, she can be seen on air beginning to wobble. Realizing there was a medical emergency, Issa, took over, saying, "Okay, we'll come back to you and we'll make sure that Jessica, you are doing okay. Thank you."
"We will make sure that Jessica is OK, and we'll give you guys an update a little bit later," Issa says back in the studio.
Situation Under Control
Hours later, Robb and the company she works for, CTV Edmonton, both tweeted that she was recovering; however, Robb's tweets were soon taken private. However, the nature of Robb's medical crisis has not been made public by the station.
"On Sunday night, a very personal and vulnerable moment unfolded as I reported live on air," Robb says in the statement. "Since then, it has been shared thousands of times, along with baseless theories about the cause.
"To everyone who has reached out with supportive messages of well wishes and concern, thank you," she wrote. "It has been overwhelming, and while I can't get to all the messages, please know I've seen them and appreciate every single one.
"I have also received an overwhelming amount of harassment and hatred, tied to false theories about the reason for the incident," Robb said.
"While I will not share private medical information publicly, I can say that there is no cause for concern and that my understanding of my own medical background provides a reasonable explanation for what happened.
It is unclear when Robb will return to the air.
A similar situation happened in October last year when a TV anchor in Oklahoma began gargling words on air as she began to experience stroke symptoms. Julie Chin of Tulsa NBC affiliate KJRH was reporting on NASA's postponed Artemis-I launch when she suddenly discovered she was unable to utter the words she was reading off her teleprompter.
A few days later, Chin posted on Facebook that she was healthy and her doctors had diagnosed her with "the beginnings of a stroke, but not a full stroke."
