GB News has confirmed veteran broadcaster Eamonn Holmes remains hospitalized following a stroke suffered last week, with the 66-year-old’s anticipated Monday return to his Breakfast with Eamonn and Ellie programme now postponed indefinitely whilst he receives treatment.
The channel issued a statement revealing Holmes “is currently responding well to treatment” and requesting privacy as he “focuses on getting better,” with colleagues wishing him “a speedy recovery” before welcoming him back to “the People’s Channel when he is ready to return.”
The hospitalization follows Holmes’s mysterious absence from GB News throughout recent weeks after sparking viewer alarm during an 11 March broadcast where he appeared to slumber in his chair, fidget with his microphone and struggle with basic pen manipulation whilst co-host Ellie interviewed Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister Darren Jones MP.
The Sun reported Holmes was scheduled resuming presenting duties Monday 13 April, though the stroke diagnosis has scuppered those plans with no revised return date announced.
An insider told the publication: “There have been lots of whispers about Eamonn being off. It’s unlike him. He lives and breathes presenting on television.”
Holmes addressed the on-air incident during an appearance at Hayley Palmer’s An Audience With… event at London’s Hippodrome Casino last month, dismissing speculation he had fallen asleep whilst explaining technical difficulties.
“I was just looking down at my mic pack to see why it was not working, as we don’t have floor managers or camera operators. Apparently I was sleeping? Whatever!” he stated according to The Mirror.
The stroke represents the latest health crisis for the presenter whose medical struggles have mounted significantly in recent years, beginning with 2016’s double hip replacement before 2021 brought three slipped discs and a dislocated pelvis.
Major spinal surgery followed in 2022, with Holmes subsequently requiring wheelchair assistance—a development he claims has prompted “ageist” industry attitudes marginalizing older disabled broadcasters.
Last month Holmes shared what he described as a “horrendous” health update whilst alleging the television industry “doesn’t want to know him” now that he is older and wheelchair-bound.
The presenter’s extended absence had already prompted concern amongst viewers and colleagues before Tuesday’s hospitalization, with his March 11 on-air behaviour generating substantial speculation about his wellbeing despite his subsequent explanations attributing the incidents to technical equipment issues rather than medical distress.
GB News has not provided specific details regarding Holmes’s current condition beyond confirming the stroke diagnosis and positive treatment response.
