“heute journal” presenter Gundula Gause (58) suffered an attack of weakness in front of the cameras on Monday evening. On Tuesday afternoon, Wulf Schmiese (56), head of the ZDF news magazine, gave the all-clear. She’s doing better again. A medical examination revealed that there was “no serious cause for the sudden dizziness,” according to the station’s homepage.
There is also a specific quote from an email that Gause sent to her colleagues at ZDF at 1:01 a.m. that night. “All clear. I’m back home. Anything more serious can be ruled out,” she let everyone know. She had previously been checked out at a hospital. The Berlin native said about the diagnosis: “It was probably an orthostatic collapse.” She went on to explain to her team the reason for her weakness: “Nausea, headache, dizziness – not eating enough, drinking too little… and I thought I could do it.”
Over 4.6 million viewers witnessed the incident on Monday evening. At 10:01 p.m. – about a quarter of an hour after the broadcast began – Gundula Gause suddenly had problems reading and speaking the news. She stopped co-moderating the “heute journal”. Dunja Hayali (49), who spontaneously took over the moderation for her colleague, was able to announce at the end of the program that Gundula Gause was feeling better again.
“So that she can really recover, Hanna Zimmermann will be co-moderating the ‘heute journal’ this Tuesday,” said the head of the ZDF news magazine. And added a friendly “We also wish Gundula a speedy recovery and look forward to her next assignment.”
