BBC presenter Chemmy Alcott has been rushed to hospital with a collapsed lung after jumping from a five-metre-high platform into Lake Annecy in the French Alps. The Ski Sunday host, 44, explained that while most people would end up “winded” after such a stunt, she ended up attached to a chest drain in A&E.
Hospital video and recovery
Chemmy said in an Instagram video: “Most people badly time a front flip off a five-metre platform and get winded. I apparently don’t do things by halves, collapsed lung, chest drain and a very expensive lesson in rotation.”
Chemmy added: “Well… that escalated quickly. Turns out 5 metres is quite a long way to discover you’ve got the rotation wrong.
“One badly timed front flip. One very hard landing. One collapsed lung. One chest drain. And a few more hospital overnights than were on the holiday itinerary…
“I absolutely LOVED Annecy… but I’m not entirely sure it loved me back.”
Her social media post showed Chemmy having fluid drained from her chest with a syringe, and then attached to wires in a hospital gown.
History of injuries
Chemmy, who hosted the Winter Olympics for the BBC, is familiar with injuries, having broken her leg three times in just four years when she was still a competing athlete.
She told The Sun: “When I first broke my leg in 2010, I had so many surgeries.
“My bones actually broke through my ski boot. They had to put a screw through it, which meant it would never properly heal. My leg will always be broken.
“My surgeon told me some things I needed to hear. He sat me down and said that if I kept going competitively and crashed, he would have to amputate my leg from the knee down, because I don’t have any bone anymore. It shocked me.”
