If you noticed something unusual about Sunny Hostin when Debbie Matenopoulos made her appearance on The View earlier this week, you were correct. During today’s episode of the popular daytime talk show, Hostin shared that she “almost died” during the live segment when she unknowingly ate walnuts, to which she has a severe allergy.
Matenopoulos, known as an original co-host of The View, appeared on the show last Wednesday morning (June 18) to discuss her latest cookbook Greek.ish, inspired by her Greek heritage. Alongside sharing updates about her life, she introduced dishes from her cookbook at the Hot Topics table for the co-hosts to sample.
However, Hostin didn’t realize that one of the dishes included an ingredient that she is severely allergic to.
“I almost died on the show,” she said this morning.
“We had our former co-host Debbie Matenopoulos, and she brought amazing Greek cuisine,” Hostin recounted. “I am highly allergic to walnuts, and while I was tasting the dish, Alyssa [Farah Griffin] asked, ‘Are there walnuts in this?’ To which Debbie replied, ‘Yes.’”
Hostin added, “I panic immediately and I write a death note to Alyssa, which basically says, ‘I am allergic to walnuts.’ And she responds, ‘Oh, no!’ And I’m looking at [executive producer Brian Teta] and he’s like, ‘Is everything OK?’ No, it’s not.”
According to Griffin, she could tell something was wrong with Hostin while they were filming the live segment.
“It was actually scary, though. I could tell she was having a reaction,” Griffin said, before joking, “I couldn’t read this at first but I also wanted to be like, ‘Will you leave me the Gucci shoes if you pass?’”
Hostin praised the Disney nurses for quickly jumping in to save her life, telling the co-hosts, “They are like superheroes. They came in with a cape. She had an EpiPen, she was testing me, I had Benadryl.” Referring to Griffin and the way she handled the “death note” while they were on live television, Hostin said, “She was great in the moment because I panicked.”
The View airs on weekdays at 11/10c on ABC.
