Jamie O’Hara's Holiday Nightmare: Food Poisoning in Portugal

Jamie O’Hara went to Portugal chasing sun, sea and a quiet break. He ended up in a hospital bed in Albufeira with a drip in his arm and cheese on toast as the unlikely villain.

The former Tottenham midfielder and talkSPORT regular revealed on Instagram that his holiday had taken a sharp turn, posting a picture from hospital with the caption: “Got food poisoning from cheese on toast in Albufeira.”

Of all the ways to be floored on the Algarve, that one raised eyebrows back home.

‘Is that possible?’

On the Breakfast show, Shebahn Aherne and Gabby Agbonlahor tried to make sense of it – and couldn’t quite get there.

“Is that possible?” Agbonlahor asked, voicing what plenty of listeners were thinking.

“I don’t think it is possible,” Aherne replied. “I think he’s had something dodgy before the cheese on toast.”

Agbonlahor, never far from a punchline, went one step further: “He took his own cheese over to Portugal with him, it’s gone off and he’s eaten it, and got food poisoning?”

Aherne then tried to give the mystery a medical twist, suggesting it could be a case of listeriosis, an illness the NHS links to soft, mould-ripened cheeses such as camembert and brie. Hardly the usual suspect when you hear “cheese on toast.”

‘Boys, it’s not good’

O’Hara, clearly feeling every bit of it, sent in a video update from his hospital bed.

“Boys, it’s not good, I’m in a bad place,” he said. “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 name of the restaurant only added to the sense that O’Hara’s trip had turned into a slapstick away day.

Back in the studio, Aherne had seen the footage.

“He is whiter than a ghost by the way!” she said.

“He doesn’t look well, does he?” Agbonlahor admitted, the jokes softening into concern. “I want to apologise for laughing at you Jamie.”

A Cundy cure on standby

O’Hara’s main stage is The Sports Bar, where he shares the mic with Jason Cundy, talkSPORT’s chief wind-up merchant and a man who rarely misses the chance to turn pain into punchlines.

With O’Hara laid low, Agbonlahor floated the idea of an early intervention.

“Do you know what he might need while he’s sitting there in hospital?” he asked. “Jason Cundy, ‘Has anyone seen cheese?!’ That’ll cheer him up!”

The pair are due back together for the new Premier League season, their late-night double act a familiar soundtrack for fans heading home from midweek fixtures or dissecting the weekend’s drama. For now, though, the only thing on O’Hara’s agenda is getting back on his feet and salvaging what’s left of his break.

A sun-soaked escape turned into an “absolute stinker” by a plate of cheese on toast. When he returns to the studio, you sense that story will be getting replayed almost as often as Spurs’ worst defeats.