NFL RedZone host Scott Hanson is very much a human being – except for seven hours every Sunday in the fall. Yes, the guy giving you the latest NFL scores and highlights doesn’t eat, drink or go to the bathroom during the broadcast.
“Seven-hour show, no commercial breaks – I have only taken one bathroom break in the last seven-plus seasons,” Hanson said on The Zach Gelb Show. “I get into the zone. I eat a big breakfast in the morning on Sunday morning and then I cut off my liquids about three hours before the show.”
Hanson’s stage manager, Rhoda Gilmore, gives Hanson a banana and a bottle of water before each show.
“I’m like a caged zoo animal,” he said. “The banana is for potassium if I need a little energy and some potassium to avoid cramping up because I get so dehydrated doing the show because I don’t drink any water. And the water is if I happen to get some dry mouth and I happen to take a tiny, tiny sip to wet my whistle, I will. But most of the time, the banana goes uneaten, and a lot of the times, the water, I barely even crack the surface of that. I am compromising my bladder for you folks to give you 60, 70 touchdowns every single Sunday in the fall. I hope people appreciate it.”
Hanson said he has “the willpower of a ninja,” but in December 2017, nature called and he had to answer. Hanson had hurt his rib skiing that week and ate and drank more than usual the day of the show.
“I kind of broke my routine, and it was a mistake,” he said. “In the late window of games, nature was calling and I’m calculating it in my mind. Can I make it? Can I make it until the end of whatever games were going on at the time? Ultimately, I said, ‘I don’t think I can do it. If I do, I’m going to be miserable and it’s going to distract me from doing the show.’”
Hanson told his producer he had to go to the bathroom. The entire control room groaned.
“They knew the streak was ending right then and there,” Hanson said.
Hanson tweeted to the masses that it was his first bathroom break in four years.
“Dude, that is my most liked and most retweeted tweet that I have sent out, ever,” he said. “That’s how crazy people are about Scott Hanson, the Iron Bladder, every single Sunday.”
The craziest part? Hanson legitimately hurt his rib.
“At the end of the show, I ended up going to the emergency room,” he said. “I thought I had a broken rib. It wasn’t a broken rib, but I had messed it up and the doctor told me, ‘You got to get off your feet. Rest up as best you can.’ The next day, Monday, all of a sudden everyone is blowing me up. PTI – [Tony] Kornheiser and [Michael] Wilbon – led their show that Monday with [the bathroom story]. Kornheiser made a bit about, ‘You’re an amateur. You got to use a Gatorade bottle under the desk.’ But that’s how fascinated the whole public is with me not going to the bathroom. It’s astounding.”
If you’re curious, Hanson didn’t have to go No. 2 that day.
“Just No. 1,” he said. “And yes, I washed my hands.”