The Chase star Anne Hegerty is a beloved quizzer on the ITV show.
Anne Hegerty rose to fame on Bradley Walsh’s popular game show The Chase, where she assumed the role of The Governess in 2010, joining fellow quiz whizzes Mark Labbett and Shaun Wallace.
She was the first female Chaser to join the team and has been a crucial part of the ITV squad since just a year after the show’s launch, making her one of the longest-serving Chasers.
The 66-year-old isn’t just well-known in the UK, she also regularly appears on the Australian version of the show alongside fellow British chaser Mark, establishing herself as a familiar face down under as well.
Her quiz prowess extends to shows like Mastermind, Fifteen to One, Today’s the Day, Are You an Egghead? and Brain of Britain. Anne even ranked 55th in the World Quizzing Championships in 2016, coming second among women, reports Bristol Live.
When she’s not busy with quizzes and TV appearances on various reality series, Anne prefers to lead a quiet life.
Diagnosis that impacted her romantic relationships
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Anne has always been candid about her autism diagnosis, having only discovered she had the condition in her mid-40s.
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by difficulties in social interaction and communication, along with restricted and repetitive behaviours or interests.
The TV star, known for her role as one of the brainiac’s on The Chase, has candidly spoken about how her condition and how it affected her love life over the years.
On an episode of The Chasers Road Trip with fellow quiz masters Mark Labbett and Shaun Wallace, Anne got personal about her romantic history, revealing that her longest relationship lasted just four months due to the distance between them, which actually suited her.
“He was a lovely bloke but I am just not good with the sort of attention that people need,” she admitted.
Romance revelations
Anne, who lives in Watford, has never shied away from discussing her single status and openly admits that she’s quite content without a partner.
In a previous interview with The Guardian, the quizzing whiz shared her struggles with starting new relationships, confessing that she often finds herself more enamored with fictional characters than actual people.
She expressed: “I think the problem is I find it really difficult to fall in love with real people. I’ve thought ‘am I in love with this guy?’ And then we kind of get together and I think ‘damn it, no, oh dear’.”
During another conversation with OK! magazine, she disclosed: “I fall in love with historical or fictional characters. People I can put a bit of distance between.
“I get overwhelmed in the presence of actual people and everything shuts down. I’ve found that with sex, too. It’s like I can’t be fully in it. That much intimacy, I almost zone out.”
The quiz whizz has been upfront about her contentment in being single but has let slip that she’s not short on suitors.
She previously spilled to The Sun: “Let’s say I would not be short of offers if I went looking. But I am happy with my own company, I’ve had relationships go wrong precisely because I could not devote the mental energy to it, and I just thought ‘No, no, no, this is not a good idea’.
“I find men make such great friends – so let’s keep them like that,” she quipped.
Life before The Chase
Before she became known as The Governess on The Chase in 2010, Anne Hegerty was actually flexing her writing muscles as a journalist.
She hit the books at university, bagging a degree in linguistics, which delves into language and its structure, including the nitty-gritty of grammar, syntax, and phonetics. Post-graduation, she dived into journalism, contributing to various local rags.
Her career path then veered towards copy editing, proofreading and ghostwriting, with the TV ace even crafting two books for American kiddie lit legend Richard Scarry, before she switched gears to become a pro quizzer and team up with Bradley Walsh on his hit quiz show.
Setting the record straight about her TV future
Anne, famed for her stern persona as The Governess, recently had to put to bed whispers that she’d been given the boot from the Aussie edition of Beat the Chasers after fans noticed she’d been swapped out on the programme.
The telly favourite was noticeably missing from an episode that was shot during the pandemic but only hit screens three years on, sparking rumours she’d been permanently replaced after The Chase’s brainbox Issa Schultz, known as The Super Nerd, stepped in for her.
After fans expressed their worries, Anne hopped onto social media to clear the air, assuring them she wasn’t about to disappear.
In her message, she wrote: “I haven’t left, am not leaving, and wasn’t leaving when Issa had to stand in for me when I caught covid NEARLY THREE YEARS AGO.”
Mysterious online marriage
While braving the jungle in 2018’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! Anne felt compelled to address some fake news about her marital status that had been circulating online.
Her Wikipedia page once claimed she was hitched to a person named Jake Hester, but Anne confirmed this was not true. Setting things straight on the show, Anne stated: “It still claims I’m married to someone called Jake Hester! I seriously don’t know who he is.”
The Chase airs weekdays on ITV1, from 5pm.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
