Jamie O’Hara's Nightmare Algarve Break: Food Poisoning from Cheese on Toast
Jamie O’Hara’s Algarve break has turned into a nightmare – and the culprit, he says, is as humble as it gets: cheese on toast.
The former Tottenham midfielder and talkSPORT regular jetted out to Albufeira for a hit of sun and downtime before the new season. Instead, he ended up under hospital lights with a drip in his arm, posting a grim update on Instagram on Wednesday night.
“Got food poisoning from cheese on toast in Albufeira,” he wrote, the picture showing him wired up and looking anything but holiday-ready.
For a man who spent last season gleefully describing some of Tottenham’s displays as “an absolute stinker”, this one has come back to bite. The pundit who dishes it out now finds himself floored by the most basic of bar snacks.
Back in London, his talkSPORT colleagues could barely believe it. On Breakfast, Gabby Agbonlahor voiced what most listeners were thinking.
“Is that possible?” he asked, incredulous.
Shebahn Aherne was just as sceptical. “I don’t think it is possible. I think he’s had something dodgy before the cheese on toast.”
Agbonlahor couldn’t resist twisting the knife.
“He took his own cheese over to Portugal with him, it’s gone off and he’s eaten it, and got food poisoning?”
Aherne tried to put some science behind the mystery, suggesting it might be listeriosis – an infection the NHS links to soft, mould-ripened cheeses like camembert and brie, and one that can leave you feeling seriously unwell.
As the speculation swirled, O’Hara broke his silence with a video message into the show. The usually boisterous Sports Bar voice sounded drained.
“Boys, it’s not good, I’m in a bad place,” he admitted. “I can’t come on, I am struggling. I’m out in Portugal, I’ve got food poisoning from cheese on toast.
“You’ll love this one as well, the restaurant that I got it from, do you know what it’s called? Fat Cats... Fat, Cats! Honestly, absolute stinker. I’m dying. Sums me up, doesn’t it?”
The clip did little to reassure anyone. Aherne, having seen his face, didn’t sugar-coat it.
“He is whiter than a ghost by the way!”
Agbonlahor, who had spent the morning chuckling at O’Hara’s misfortune, quickly softened.
“He doesn’t look well, does he? I want to apologise for laughing at you Jamie.”
For listeners, O’Hara is synonymous with The Sports Bar, where he sits alongside chief provocateur Jason Cundy, trading barbs and winding up fans late into the night. The pair are due back on air soon as the Premier League circus restarts.
They might be back together even sooner. Agbonlahor floated the idea of Cundy delivering his trademark line as a form of bedside medicine.
“Do you know what he might need while he’s sitting there in hospital? Jason Cundy, ‘Has anyone seen cheese?!’ That’ll cheer him up!”
For now, O’Hara’s task is simpler: get off the drip, salvage what he can of his Portuguese escape, and return to the studio with a story that will be replayed mercilessly every time cheese, toast, or a dodgy away performance gets a mention.
