ONE of the BBC’s weather presenters has been forced to respond to fans after sparking concern after he was left ‘gasping for breath’ live on air.
Simon King was bringing a live weather update to the nation on the airwaves when he suffered a severe shortness of breath that he later described as “horrendous”.
It left many BBC radio listeners concerned that he was facing a bout of ill health with some even questioning if he suffered an on-air heart attack.
Thankfully, Simon took to social media to reassure everyone that was not the case and he simply had lost his breath after running late.
Simon had just pounced up flights of stairs to get to the studio that left him unable to catch his breath.
Sharing a photo of the said stairs on X – formerly Twitter – Simon reassured his fans and said: “Thank you to those who asked if I was alright after my radio 4 weather earlier.
“Not going to lie, it was horrendous…I just couldn’t catch a breath. Time was really tight after I finished a TV hit so I decided to run upstairs to the radio studio…big mistake.”
He then went on to add: “Genuinely touched by the continuing messages today, thank you and sorry for an unnecessary worry!”
Simon presents the weather updates on Sunday mornings on both BBC Radio 4 and the 5 Live breakfast show and had just a matter of minuets to get from one studio to the next.
He brings an update on 5 Live at 7:45am followed by taking to the Radio 4 airwaves just 12 minutes later at 7:57am.
However, when his Radio 5 Live broadcast ran late, he had just 2 minuets to go from studio to studio on different levels of the BBC’s MediaCityUK building.
Simon opened up an interview to The Telegraph over his live broadcasting mishap where he recalled the “bad idea” to run and go live on air just seconds later.
He said: “I didn’t actually get out of the studio until 7.55 am and as I got out of the studio I looked at my watch and realised, ‘Christ, I have only got two minutes before I need to be on Radio 4’.”
Simon continued: “In order to get there and not miss it, I decided I should run up the stairs!
“Obviously when I got to the radio studio and I couldn’t breathe, I immediately thought that was probably a bad idea.”
He further added how members of the public had reached out to him to express their concern before he issues his health update online.
Simon told the publication about some of the concerns, which included: “Have you had an asthma attack? Heart attack?”
The BBC’s lead weather presenter is no stranger to a health dash on air after being left in considerable pain after a large cyst burst inside his spleen while he was live broadcasting the shipping forecast.
It saw the star rushed to hospital the second he came off the air.
He admitted the pain he was in during the broadcast where he lost his breath was nothing compared to the burst cyst.