In November 2020, Duck Commander announced a brand-new podcast called The Duck Call Room, which would be hosted by Duck Dynasty‘s Uncle Si, Hustin Martin, John-David Owen, John Godwin, Jay Stone, and Phillip McMillan.
On the February 4 episode of the podcast, it was revealed that Si came down with COVID-19, and had to be hospitalized.
“Si went to the hospital (under protest, of course),” reads the description of the podcast on YouTube. “We knew something had to be wrong when he was quiet and wouldn’t laugh or smile. He was diagnosed with COVID-19, drove everyone at the hospital nuts, came home, and took a turn for the worse.”
Si returned to the podcast on February 11 and warned listeners, “Trust me when I tell you, it’s real, it’s deadly, and hey, you don’t want no part in it.”
He went on to detail how the virus left him feeling absolutely exhausted, saying, “...every ounce of energy I had, played bird and flew away. It played bird and it was gone immediately.”
Two months after that podcast, Uncle Si sat down with members of his family who also had COVID, including his nephew Willie Robertson, Willie’s wife Korie, and their kids, for an episode of their Facebook Watch show At Home with the Robertsons.
The full episode won’t air until Thursday (April 22), but a sneak peek clip reveals just how bad things got with Si.
“I thought that when COVID entered your body, it would just say, ‘Nope,’ and it would jump out and commit suicide,” Willie joked with his uncle, who is 72 years old.
When he was away from the rest of the family, Willie said to the camera, “For Si, he’s had health problems, he’s had open heart surgery, even some breathing issues, and so we really panicked.”
Korie revealed that Si was hospitalized for five days, returned home feeling better, but then it got really bad.
He continued, “[Si] shared with us, he thought it was the end. Were it not for members of the family really being with him and encouraging him, I’m not sure he would have made it.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure that he would,” Korie concurred.
In recent episodes of The Duck Call Room, Uncle Si is not using oxygen anymore, so it’s safe to say he is feeling much better! As Si himself put it, he “kicked COVID in the rear end!“