Michael Holley, the long-time Boston Globe sports columnist and ESPN contributor, required stitches after sustaining an injury when he fainted live on air on Friday.
The 56-year-old appeared via satellite to speak with host Mike Florio about a number of NFL topics on a live broadcast of NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk.
However, the appearance took a terrifying turn when the show was forced to cut to commercial after a wide-eyed Holley slid out of his chair and onto the floor.
Florio, who has hosted Holley on his show for the past two years, attempted to quell fans’ fears when he shared an update on the reporter’s condition later in the evening.
The host confirmed that Holley was stable and in fine condition, despite needing five stitches in his knee, which he cut when he fell.
Florio shared that Holley had become overheated in the final half an hour of the two-hour program after not eating or drinking anything before the show began at 7am ET.
Michael Holley (right), the long-time Boston Globe sports columnist and ESPN contributor, fainted during a live broadcast of NBC Sports’ Pro Football Talk on Friday
Show host Mike Florio shared an updated on the reporter’s condition following the incident
Holley had joined the show from his studio at home, which, he told Florio, has a tendency to get very warm.
‘As he became ill, I was looking at the camera, which sits above the monitor that returns the live feed of the show,’ Florio wrote on Pro Football Talk. ‘I noticed Michael moving. I thought that he had again lost his audio. When he slumped to the right and fell out of the view of the screen, I knew something was wrong.’
He explained that the team immediately tried to contact Holley’s wife as the show cut to an emergency commercial break. Holley is said to have begun moving within a minute of passing out and later confirmed that he was alright.
Florio also detailed his own previous health scare, explaining that two years ago he thought he may be suffering cardiac arrest during a live episode and panicked that showrunners did not know his wife’s contact details.
The show was forced to cut to commercial when a wide-eyed Holley slid out of his chair
‘The lesson learned was a simple one – the control room needs to have phone numbers for family members who can be immediately contacted if a co-host who is contributing from home has a sudden health issue,’ he wrote.
Television studios are often kept at low temperatures because they can quickly become very hot when the production lighting has been on for even a few minutes. Holley, who was wearing a warmup jacket, did not say a word as he faded in front of the cameras.
The situation was eerily similar to another incident in which NFL great Bruce Smith passed out during a live 2000 TNT broadcast – only in Smith’s case, he was actually standing when he lost consciousness.
It was later revealed that Smith had been battling the flu and dehydration before the broadcast.
