The ESPN sportscaster was recently missing from SportsCenter after he announced he had a “medical scare”. Here’s what happened to Scott Van Pelt and what caused the health issue.
Scott Van Pelt has been a staple on ESPN for the past 20 years after joining the prestigious network in 2001. As well as working in radio, the 55-year-old co-anchored the 11pm edition of SportsCenter and became a solo anchor for the midnight edition of the show in 2015.
However, recently the host had a health scare, leading fans to question what happened to Scott Van Pelt?
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Scott Van Pelt has health scare
Scott Van Pelt recently announced he would miss Monday (11 January) evening’s edition of SportsCenter. He revealed the news following the national championship game and said it was due to a medical issue.
Scott made the announcement on Twitter and said his “heart got a little out of whack” but he’s “fine now” and home from the hospital. He also thanked the Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, for looking after him.
What happened to Scott Van Pelt?
Van Pelt said the issue was due to supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), which is defined as “an abnormally fast or erratic heartbeat that affects the heart’s upper chambers”.
According to the Mayo Clinic: “A normal heart rate is 60 to 100 beats per minute. A heart rate of more than 100 beats per minute is called a tachycardia. During an episode of SVT, your heart beats about 150 to 220 times per minute, but it can occasionally beat faster or slower.
“Most people with supraventricular tachycardia live healthy lives without restrictions or treatment. For others, lifestyle changes, medication and heart procedures may be needed to control or eliminate the rapid heartbeats and related symptoms.”
Fans send well-wishes to Scott online
Fans were understandably concerned and sent their best wishes to Scott as he recovers.
Scott tested positive for covid in 2020 and struggled to taste food for months
Although unrelated to his recent health scare, Scott Van Pelt last took a break from his show in December 2020 when he tested positive for covid.
He wrote on Twitter at the time: “Thankfully, no fever and I feel fine. Just can’t smell or taste anything, which was my clue to go get a test.”
In March 2021, Van Pelt revealed to SI he was still struggling to taste food, despite the fact it was more than three months since he tested positive for covid.
“I still can’t taste, which is a horror show,” Van Pelt said on the SI Media podcast. “I couldn’t taste an apple one day and it was like, ‘Oh, man.’
“I don’t know what to do. There isn’t some pill to take or shot to get that’s gonna suddenly wake my taste buds up. So now I’m in the wait-and-see mode and every day it’s like, ‘Can I taste this?’ And it’s like crunch, crunch, crunch, ‘not really.’ And it just sucks.”
It is unknown whether Scott’s sense of taste has fully returned.
