GB News was thrown into chaos today as Eamonn Holmes – who recently shared his woes over health struggles at the TRIC Awards – seemingly disappeared. Viewers expressed their alarm over his health, fearing the presenter had been taken ill.
He had been present at the start of the show, when he and Isabel Webster announced Labour’s plans to build over areas of the green belt to assist with the current housing crisis. However, he then vanished, leaving one viewer to fret on Twitter: “@GBNEWS where’s @EamonnHolmes gone? No explanation?”
A second exclaimed: “He has just disappeared. Maybe he is unwell.” Several others also spotted his absence and took to social media to share their fears.
It comes after he revealed at the TRIC Awards, while he and Isabel accepted a gong on behalf of the channel for Best Breakfast Show, that he was “not okay”. He arrived at the ceremony in a wheelchair and was supported by sticks when he took to the stage, making it clear that gruelling operations on his spine and hips in recent years have truly taken their toll.
The 64-year-old confessed that he felt he was “on borrowed time”, as his father had been just a year older than he is now when he suffered a fatal heart attack. In fact, he’d been unsure whether to attend the awards show at all, due to his declining mobility, until he got a new wheelchair which boosted his confidence.
Eamonn has also endured a heartbreaking marriage split from fellow TV star Ruth Langsford, after 14 years as husband and wife and almost three decades in a relationship.
The bad news comes after almost a decade of chronic pain, beginning with a gruelling 2016 double hip replacement, which wasn’t as successful as he’d hoped.
He continued to suffer with poor circulation and cramps afterwards and struggled to walk.
Meanwhile, three slipped discs caused agony from 2021 onwards.
After spinal surgery to address his back pain, he had a fall downstairs at his Surrey home and broke his shoulder – and he recently stated that he may never walk unaided again.
However, everyone close to Eamonn is rooting for him and Christine McGuinness was spotted helping him at the TRIC Awards.
Earlier in the show, before his disappearance, Eamonn had joined in with a debate about Labour’s desire to solve the housing crisis by building over areas of the green belt – something many are fearful about.
Eamonn quizzed whether “urban sprawl is really a solution”, as he and Isabel empathised with viewer feelings that the party could be set to “concrete over our green and pleasant land”.
The show revealed that the country is currently “two million homes short” due to a rapidly rising population and that releasing 1% of the green belt could provide one million of those homes.
However, it has been lamented that the belt – developed by Winston Churchill’s nephew to boost clean air, and in turn physical and mental health – could end up under threat.
Isabel voiced anguish that Labour could end up with “too much power” and proposed a limit on the number of children Brits should have instead.