US politician caught wiping her nose on TV

A US politician has caused an explosion of debate as to what she was doing when she appeared to wipe her nose and put a finger in her mouth with bizarre relish on live television.

A clip of Ann Wagner on Fox2Now during last week’s Republican leaders’ debate shows her standing right next to party chairman John Hancock to give analysis of the debate.

But what the candidate did next has set off its own flurry of analysis as disgusted online viewers try to work out what she was doing.

Some have sprung to Wagner’s defence, saying it’s possible she wasn’t aware the show had gone live or that she was simply making sure there was no lipstick out of place.

Either way the show went on despite the Republican Congresswoman’s distracting on-air activity, and host Elliot Weiler and the rest of the panel didn’t seem to notice anything unusual.