How man’s aftershave caused Question Time to be cut short

An episode of the BBC’s Question Time was cut short after an audience member suffered an asthma attack brought on by pungent aftershave, it emerged today.

The show was airing live from Colchester Town Hall in Essex when host David Dimbleby suddenly announced it was finishing early after an audience member collapsed and could not be moved.

The BBC Two programme last Thursday was cut 20 minutes short – instead of running to an hour as normal – as an ambulance was called to the studio.

Now the audience member who suffered the collapse has revealed she suffered an asthma attack, which she claimed was brought on by a reaction to the aftershave of the man sat next to her.

Sioux Blair-Jordan said: ‘My friend did not like sitting in the front row, so the man behind her swapped.

‘Unfortunately the aftershave he was wearing affected my asthma – my airways just closed off. The aftershave was quite pungent, to me.

‘It depends how it is chemically made as it is the chemicals that set me off. I don’t know what he was wearing but it must have had the chemicals that upset me. 

‘I actually said to him “oh, I feel faint” and then the next thing I knew I was screaming in pain.’

Ms Blair-Jordan, pictured on set of the show, has revealed she suffered an asthma attack, which she claimed was brought on by a reaction to the aftershave of the man sat next to her

Ms Blair-Jordan, who suffers from a degenerative spinal disease, revealed her back had been damaged during efforts to give her first aid at the venue.

She said: ‘From what I understand from other people, I was not moved in the correct way – I don’t know who did it.

‘I am grateful for their efforts to save my life but by not doing it correctly they actually have damaged my spine – I have soft tissue damage and I ended up in A&E all night.’

She does not know the name of the aftershave wearer, but understands he was a former serviceman. He said: ‘The man wearing the aftershave was not to know. 

‘It was quite pungent. I don’t know what aftershave it was. All I know is the chap was ex-RAF, he was quite chatty and quite pleasant. I’d never met him before.

‘I am thankful for everybody for what they did, particularly the ambulance people who were amazing.’

Ms Blair-Jordan, who is unable to work due to her disability, had been sat in the front row when the drama unfolded.

‘Some people thought it was a conspiracy to halt the show because it was more pro-Labour than normal but it was not manufactured, it was absolutely genuine.

‘If anyone else had sat next to me who had not got perfume or an aftershave on, it would not have happened.’

The mother-of-two, who lives in Colchester, said she had been looking forward to quizzing the panel about the issue of Universal Credit before her collapse.

Question Time was airing live on BBC Two from Colchester Town Hall in Essex when host David Dimbleby (pictured) suddenly announced it was finishing early 

Ms Blair-Jordan thanked the ambulance workers for helping get her to Colchester General Hospital from the venue, which normally hosts Colchester council meetings.

She previously hit the headlines when she told members at the Labour party conference disabled people might as well ‘walk into the gas chamber’ if the Government was to bring in a British Bill of Rights.

The party activist said during her 2015 speech on the main conference stage, she said: ‘Not all health issues are visible. I am sick of being demonised. I am sick of being blamed for all that is wrong with this country.

‘We need the disabled and the sick to be seen as human beings – we have our right to have our rights upheld and we need the NHS.

‘We also need the EU to uphold our human rights because if Cameron does his Bill of Rights we might as well walk into the gas chamber today.’

Ms Blair-Jordan previously met Mr Corbyn when he visited the University of Essex during the leadership election campaign.

Explaining the early finish, Mr Dimbleby apologised, saying: ‘I am afraid at this point we have to curtail this edition of Question Time.

‘A member of the audience was taken ill and couldn’t safely be moved, so we had to bring the programme to a close.’

Business Secretary Greg Clark, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott, former Metropolitan Police chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, former Marks and Spencer boss Lord Stuart Rose and crime writer Dreda Say Mitchell made up the panel.

Andrew Neil’s political show This Week, which was scheduled to begin at 11.45pm, was moved forward to fill the gap in the schedules.