Marie Osmond faints, falls during 'Dancing with the Stars' broadcast

Entertainer Marie Osmond fainted during last night's live Dancing with the Stars fifth-season performance episode broadcast on ABC.


Osmond and her professional partner Jonathan Roberts were the first couple to perform during last night's broadcast.  Following their samba routine, Osmond and Roberts were receiving feedback from Dancing with the Stars' judge Len Goodman when she suddenly fell to the ground. 

Roberts and Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron and quickly huddled over Osmond, and the show cut to commercial.

"She was laughing and then sank like a stone... Everyone froze," ABC publicist Amy Astley told The Associated Press, adding that Osmond started to rise and was helped by others during the extended commercial break.

"Just so you know, Marie is fine.  You're about to see her backstage as she awaits her scores," Bergeron told viewers once the show returned from commercial break.  "I want to just quote her exactly.  She passed out -- she fainted, as you saw.  The first words out of her mouth when she saw us all leaning over her were, 'Oh, crap!'"


The judges then revealed Osmond and Roberts' samba routine scored a 21 out of 30 possible points before Osmond discussed what happened with Dancing with the Stars co-host Samantha Harris.

"You thought fainting would get you 10s?" questioned Harris with a poorly placed joke.

"You don't plan those things," Osmond told Harris.  "Once in a while, it happens to me when I get winded.  I stop breathing.  So sorry... I'm really sorry."

While Osmond initially refused medical attention to instead receive her scores, Bergeron said later in the broadcast that the 48-year-old entertainer did in fact visit with medics.  Osmond subsequently underwent a medical examination as a precaution, Astley told The AP.

"For just a beat, I thought as the audience did that she was kidding," Bergeron told Good Morning America this morning in a phone interview, according to ABC News. "I thought she was responding to Len taking so long to get to his critique."


Bergeron added that medical personnel have been attending Dancing with the Stars' tapings ever since the first season for situations like the one that occurred last night.

"It's very strenuous," he told Good Morning America.  "You never know what's going to happen on live television."






About The Author: Steven Rogers