Hamilton mayor Paula Southgate nearly faints on The AM Show

Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate appeared to be struggling on The AM Show. Photo / Supplied

Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate suffered a health scare on live TV this morning, after appearing to nearly faint during an interview on The AM Show.

While being questioned about the statue of the man Hamilton is named after and her thoughts on changing the city's name, Southgate seemed to falter, then scrunched her eyes closed and sat down.

But the interview continued. She appeared in pain, at which point the camera was moved off her and back to show presenter Duncan Garner, who held up his hand.

"Okay we will leave it there," Garner says.

"I hope she's okay."

After a commercial break, Garner confirmed Southgate did in fact nearly faint, but is "okay".

"We've spoken to her people as well, and she is okay but she appeared to be fainting during the latter part of that interview there," he said.

"She's feeling much better now. We're consistently in touch with her people as well. So we do wish you all the best and we hope you're okay," Garner said.

Southgate later laughed off the incident. She told Stuff that fainting on live television was "not the best start" to her week.

Through her spokeswoman, she said she was "absolutely fine and has thanked people for their concern".