ITV issues statement after presenter became unwell live on air in 'concerning' segment
ITV has issued a statement after viewers became concerned that their newsreader Rageh Omaar had become unwell live on air.
He'd been presenting their News at Ten show last night (26 April) and was signing off for the evening when he started to stumble over his words and appeared to struggle to read out the final headlines.
He was able to tell viewers 'thank you and have a great weekend', but those watching ITV were very worried that something was very wrong.
Newsreaders can make verbal flubs and errors from time to time, but to many watching at home, this appeared to be different as ITV's experienced international news editor seemed to be struggling.
People started tweeting ITV News to ask if Rageh was ok and saying they were 'genuinely concerned' for his wellbeing, and the broadcaster has since responded to those worried about the newsreader.
A spokesperson for ITV said: "We are aware that viewers are concerned about Rageh Omaar's wellbeing.
"Rageh became unwell while presenting News at Ten on Friday and is now receiving medical care.
"He thanks everyone for their well wishes."
No further details of his illness or condition have as of yet been released.
ITV also removed News at Ten from their +1 channel, and instead there was a message informing viewers that they were 'temporarily unable to bring you our +1 service' and that the channel would 'resume shortly'.
In his role as international news editor, Omaar covers major news stories from around the world for ITV and he also presents their current affairs programme On Assignment.
Previously in his career Rageh had been a senior foreign correspondent for the BBC, and had gained prominence during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 for his reporting in Baghdad.
Many of ITV's viewers have been sending their best wishes to Rageh and praising him for the work he's done in his career, with plenty saying they were 'wishing him a full and speedy recovery'.
When newsreaders can make the headlines themselves sometimes, we would much prefer it to be for far more jovial reasons.
Viewers grow accustomed to their newsreaders and like to pick up hints as to their personalities as they watch along each night.
Sometimes newsreaders show a bit more personality than they were expecting, as in the recent case of Maryam Moshiri where she was caught on camera counting down with her fingers and jokingly flipped the bird at her director.
Unfortunately this moment went out live on air, but once the newsreader had explained what had happened people were staunchly Team Maryam.
Joe Harker