Comic Howie Mandel "terrified" by heart scare

Posted 01 16 2009 5:43PM

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comic Howie Mandel says he is back to normal after passing out in his hotel following a routine procedure to correct an irregular heartbeat.

Mandel, 53, was hospitalized in Toronto last Monday while in town to shoot his new hidden-camera show "Howie Do It."

Doctors had earlier delivered an electrical shock to his chest wall after a random medical check-up uncovered an irregular heartbeat.

Back at his hotel, "I got dizzy at the elevator and I must have passed out because I woke up in a gurney in an ambulance on the way to the hospital," Mandel said in an interview that will air on Thursday on celebrity show "Access Hollywood."

Mandel said doctors told him that his heart was strong and that he did not suffer a heart attack. He was released from hospital the next day.

"I was terrified because I try to stay healthy," said the noted germophobe.

The comic, who was born in Toronto, has hosted the game show "Deal or No Deal" on NBC since 2006. "Howie Do It" has just started airing simultaneously in the United States and Canada.

(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Dean Goodman)