Al Roker went commando after White House, um, accident

By Christie D’Zurilla

Jan. 8, 2013 12 AM PT

Al Roker went sans underpants in George W. Bush’s White House — but it wasn’t because he was feeling sexy on the job. Rather, the “Today” show weatherman had accidentally pooped his pants on his way in.

He’d included the anecdote in his new book, “Never Goin’ Back,” released a week ago, and discussed it in an interview with Nancy Snyderman on Sunday’s “Dateline.” By Tuesday, however, after the tale of his tail took on a life of its own, he found himself on “Today” discussing it again.

“I put that in the book ... because I wanted people to realize that there are consequences to gastric bypass surgery or any kind of gastric surgery, some of them embarrassing; others can be life-threatening or fatal,” he said.

“Look,” he said, beginning to laugh, “the good news is, the book title does not refer to the White House, because I have been back a number of times without incident.”

The run-in with “dumping syndrome” happened back in 2002, a month after Roker had undergone gastric bypass surgery, he recounted in the “Dateline” interview. (Eating food with too much fat or sugar can trigger symptoms in post-bypass patients, he told USA Today.)

“When you have a bypass and your bowel’s been reconstructed, you think you’re pretty safe,” Roker told Snyderman. “And I probably went off and ate something I wasn’t supposed to. And as I’m walking to the press room, well, I gotta pass a little gas here. I’m walking by myself. Who’s gonna know? Only a little something extra came out.”

“You pooped in your pants,” said Snyderman.

“I pooped my pants,” said Roker. “Not horribly, but enough that I knew.”

That is, Snyderman noted, a common side effect of the surgery. Common or not, it was a side effect that demanded immediate attention, and Roker said he was panicking.

He managed to get to the press room bathroom, tossed out his soiled underwear and “just went commando” the rest of the day.

The lesson learned? “It told me that I’ve got to be very vigilant as to what I eat,” he said.

Later in the “Dateline” interview, Roker’s wife shared that she’s more sexually attracted to him since he lost more than 100 pounds, but emphasized that he’s “always been good” in bed.

It’s your choice on which visual to take with you the rest of the day. Hint: The video above closes with a discussion of “Downton Abbey” and a banana slicer, which serves as a nice palate cleanser.

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