Revelation of Andrew Scott’s kidney stone ordeal during the 2020 SAG Awards comes to light.

Awards season can be a tough time for everyone involved. Organizers struggle to make their ceremonies stand out, especially with so many overlapping events happening in a short span of time. Nominees face the pressure of delivering new, captivating acceptance speeches or dealing with the disappointment of repeated losses. Journalists have their hands full covering all the awards, while readers may grow tired of reading about them.

However, no one had a more challenging awards season than Andrew Scott in 2020. He was nominated for the Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series at the Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role as the priest in the hit show “Fleabag.” The competition was fierce, with famous actors like Michael Douglas, Alan Arkin, Bill Hader, and Tony Shalhoub also in the running. But what made Andrew’s experience truly unforgettable was that he spent the entire ceremony battling a kidney stone.

In an interview with Variety, Scott recounted the painful experience. He was sitting beside Phoebe Waller-Bridge when Laura Dern won the award for Best Supporting Actress. Just then, he felt an excruciating pain from the kidney stone. “The pain is so immediate,” he said. It got so unbearable that he had to leave during Dern’s speech, ending up in the back of the room “writhing around in agony.” Eventually, he had to leave the ceremony in an ambulance.

The SAG Awards ceremony that year was recorded, allowing fans to relive the event, although the video doesn’t capture the exact moment when Scott’s ordeal began. Luckily for him, his category was one of the first announced, just eight minutes into the show. In the footage, he appears in two close-ups. The first is right after his name is announced as a nominee. He looked a bit hunched and slightly uncomfortable, though it’s hard to say if that was because of the pain or just typical nerves. After all, he still managed to smile.

His second close-up came shortly after he lost the award to Tony Shalhoub. Despite the circumstances, he appeared happy and gracious—like a true sportsman. In hindsight, it would have been a memorable moment had there been a dramatic reaction to the loss, like screaming in pain or collapsing. That would have certainly captured everyone’s attention.

Minutes later, Waller-Bridge won an award for “Fleabag.” The camera caught Scott celebrating with her, and he seemed genuinely excited, not in pain. Then, nine minutes into the show, the entire cast of “Fleabag,” including Scott, was nominated for Best Ensemble. He looked supportive and enthusiastic during this moment too, even as the pain began to intensify.

The real trouble started when Laura Dern’s award was announced a little over fifteen minutes into the ceremony. For Andrew Scott, this was when the kidney stone hit hard. Afterward, he was quickly taken backstage and then, regrettably, transported to the hospital.

Looking back at the whole scenario, there are two ways to interpret Scott’s experience. On one hand, enduring extreme pain on such a significant night in his career is incredibly unfortunate. On the flip side, he managed to navigate the evening just long enough to attend his category and then got an early exit from the lengthy ceremony that others had to sit through. While he didn’t win the award, having a perfect reason to leave early might just make Andrew Scott the true victor of that night.