ITV News at Ten viewers have taken to social media to criticize the broadcaster after presenter Rageh Omaar fell ill during a live broadcast. The 56-year-old seemed to be struggling with his speech during Friday night’s headlines.
Following the concerning bulletin, ITV executives removed the ITV News at Ten repeat featuring Rageh from its +1 channel. Instead, a message aired: “We’ll be back soon. We’re temporarily unable to bring you our +1 service. We will resume shortly.”
Following the incident, viewers have expressed their concerns about ITV’s “duty of care” and have wished the journalist a speedy recovery. One user took to the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, and wrote: “Rageh Omaar was clearly struggling on Thursday night (24 hours before) – big questions about duty of care here.”
A second user said: “My thoughts are with Rageh Omaar this morning. ITV should never have allowed him to continue reading the news. He should have been taken off once it became obvious he wasn’t right. Poor guy.”
Another user of the micro-blogging platform and ICU nurse wrote that she had physically called the broadcaster to voice her concern. She wrote: “I am an ICU nurse that worked in stroke and I called ITV directly and said he looks like he is having a stroke that is a medical emergency call an ambulance please.”
A fourth fan typed: “Concerning scenes on @itvnews last night & wishing Rageh Omaar a speedy recovery. Nevertheless, two necessary questions: Why did ITV not immediately stop the broadcast and provide help? “Why are such occurrences live on air becoming so common over the past 3 to 4 years?”
ITV has since acknowledged Rageh’s illness and confirmed that the star is now receiving medical care. A spokesperson wrote: “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.”
Despite struggling to read the autocue towards the end of the bulletin, the broadcaster managed to complete the show and sign off with a short farewell.
No further details of Rageh’s condition or what happened to him during the time of the broadcast have been released.
The public figure is a regular anchor on the late-night ITV news program and also works as the broadcaster’s international affairs editor.
Before his move to ITV, Rageh worked for BBC and earned himself the nickname ‘the Scud stud’ due to his coverage of the 2003 Gulf war.
