Country artist David Ritschard was one of those who guested at the last Allsång of the summer at Skansen on Tuesday evening. After performing his own song, Ritschard was interviewed by program host Pernilla Wahlgren, but appeared to be swaying and glancing during the conversation.
And it was when Ritschard was going to sing together with Wahlgren and the audience right after that, that he suddenly collapsed on stage.
– It was terribly uncomfortable, I was really scared because he just collapsed and I thought at first that he just lost his balance, so I thought I’d help him up again. But then I saw that he was unconscious, says Pernilla Wahlgren in Efter fem.
Only a couple of lines into Cornelis Vreeswijk’s “I once had a boat”, Ritschard thus collapsed, but out of view of the cameras. The TV viewers could therefore only hear Pernilla Wahlgren exclaim “oh, we must break”, but did not see the drama that unfolded on stage.
“Had my eyes wide open”
– The most unpleasant thing was that he still had his eyes completely open, so it became so surreal that he was completely frozen on the floor and that I could not make any contact with him, and precisely that his eyes were open. But I have now understood that you can faint even with your eyes open and that this has happened to him before, says Wahlgren.
Staff were quickly on the scene and were able to make sure Ritschard was okay. At the same time, Pernilla was asked to continue the broadcast, which she soon did, while the television cameras filmed over the audience and Ritschard was helped out on a stretcher.
– Even when I was up there on stage, I heard in my ear that he was okay, and when I got backstage right after the sing-along, which was a bit strange, he was sitting up surrounded by people who helped him and it felt very nice , says Wahlgren.
Supports production decisions
That the production chose to continue the broadcast has met with criticism, including in a column from Gothenburg Post’s Johan Lindqvist. SVT has since responded to the criticism and the press officer for the program wrote in an email to TT that the broadcast was able to continue thanks to being quickly informed that David Ritschard was okay.
And presenter Pernilla Wahlgren supports the production’s decision to continue broadcasting. She also takes the opportunity to praise those involved for their quick actions on the spot.
– It was nice to see how well everyone around at Skansen, SVT and the medical staff who arrived quickly and were able to confirm that he was okay. So it felt very, very nice. We would not have continued the program if there had been a risk to his life, of course.
TV4 has applied for David Ritschard.