TV WEEK Gold Logie nominee Andrew Winter was unable to attend the star-studded nominations event on The Gold Coast on Sunday due to a medical condition. It was a shock to both him and his family when a fortnight ago he was hit by an episode of Bell’s Palsy.
“It’s just a very unusual thing to hit you,” Andrew tells TV WEEK, from his Gold Coast home where he is recovering from the episode which hit him two weeks ago and has left one side of his face in a state of paralysis.
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It was the first time the presenter of Selling Houses Australia and Love It Or List It Australia had experienced the condition, which is commonly caused by infection or an autoimmune response. However, doctors were unable to tell Andrew the cause of the recent episode.
Andrew recalls coming home from lunch where he simply felt like he had bitten his lip.
“I got home and looked in the mirror and just thought ‘oh that’s strange’ and I’m a bloke so didn’t think anything of it,” he says.
But soon, one side of his face was changing.
“I was shocked to see that my eye was watering for some unknown reason, I then looked in the mirror and saw that my eyelid was closed on one side – like I was winking to myself.”
“And of course you immediately think you’re having a stroke,” he explains. “I called my wife and we went to the hospital and I was there for 24-48 hours.”
His family, including wife Caroline and his two children, Daisy, 15, and Mia, 13, were understandably concerned by his condition.
“They ruled out all the scary stuff and then said ‘this is what you’ve got pal,'” he says of the Bell’s Palsy diagnosis.
“They can’t pinpoint why it happens, but my wife told me that Angelina Jolie has had it and I thought well bloody hell if it’s good enough for her it’s good enough for me!”
While Andrew’s schedule is usually jam-packed, everything has had to be put on hold while he recovers. Filming has stopped on Selling Houses Australia, with production waiting to recommence once Andrew is feeling better.
“It has huge repercussions on everyone, and now I’m sitting at home like a lazy ass just waiting for one side of my face to join the other side of my head,” he says in good humour.
“You can’t really film when one half of your face is touching your shoe and the other one isn’t,” he says of the temporary paralysis to one side of his face.
Andrew was disappointed he couldn’t attend the TV WEEK nominations event in his Gold Coast hometown, especially considering it is his first ever TV WEEK Gold Logie nomination, and the first for Foxtel in the Gold category.
“The fact I have a Gold Logie nomination is insane,” he says. “I am beyond delighted, and more than anything I’m delighted for the production team and Foxtel. It’s a pat on the back for everybody.”
Despite not being able to attend, the joy of the nomination is just as strong for Andrew.
“It’s absolutely incredible and I try to ask myself ‘why?’, and all I can think of is that longevity is a wonderful thing. I haven’t got that many friends and family to vote for me!”
And with the added bonus of Live Voting this year, he is hoping that when the lines open for voting on June 25 that his teenage daughters will spread the word on social media and give their dad a hand at winning the big prize. But he isn’t holding his breathe.
“Have you ever dealt with teenagers? I don’t think I can really rely on them doing that!” he laughs.
