Ben Boulos spoke to the guest live on the show as he addressed the moment he was left ‘mortified’ after he assumed she was shaking her head in disbelief
BBC Breakfast’s Ben Boulos faced a cringe-worthy moment on air, confessing his embarrassment after mistaking a guest’s head tremors for disagreement. The tremors were actually due to a brain condition called Dystonia.
On November 5 last year, Ben welcomed Teresa Wickham, a shrinkflation expert, via Zoom. However, the interview became infamous for all the wrong reasons when Ben misinterpreted Teresa’s involuntary muscle spasms as dissent.
During a recent show, Ben caught up with Teresa to discuss her condition and admitted to co-host Sarah Campbell that he was “mortified” by the blunder. “The thing about this job that we do is that if you say something wrong in a firmly, put your foot in it, it can very easily go viral.
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“And a little while ago, you and I were here when I introduced a guest on Zoom, and saw her shaking her head and I took that to be her disagreeing in disbelief. I mentioned it, and she very gently explained to me she actually had a brain condition that caused her to have involuntary muscle spasms, causing her head to shake.
“I was so embarrassed by it. I was so mortified, and it went everywhere,” he shared, reports the Express.
Sarah sympathised with Ben’s distress over the incident but highlighted how well both Teresa and Ben handled the awkward situation.
The programme then switched to footage of Ben’s encounter with Theresa to go over the incident and her condition. Sitting together on a bench, Ben admitted to her: “I’m slightly dreading reliving this moment,” as they replayed the scene.
Embarrassed by the situation, he confided in Teresa, saying: “I was, I can’t tell you how embarrassed I was about that, and you were so gracious, and you were so kind.”
Teresa returned the favour, assuring him: “No, I was more worried about it for you, because it has happened to me before, and it was great because it was live so I could explain it, because people often comment about my nodding head.”
She openly shared her amazement at the public response: “But I must say, what I was absolutely staggered by was the response,” she said.
In the wake of his chat with Teresa, the show also introduced experts on her condition to both inform and boost public awareness.
Audience members sympathised with Ben during the uncomfortable moment and took to social media to express their sentiments.
“I felt sorry for Ben #BBCBreakfast,” posted one viewer, while another agreed, writing: “Bet that made him feel awkward #bbcbreakfast.”
A third was pleased the issue was getting attention: “I’m so happy to hear them talking about Dystonia on the news this morning. #dystoniaawareness #bbcbreakfast @BBCNews.”
Another person new to the condition commented: “I’d never heard of it before .. #BBCBreakfast.”
BBC Breakfast airs 6am on BBC One and iPlayer
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
