The Chase’s Anne Hegerty hits back at ‘cheating’ allegations

The Chase legend Anne Hegerty has revealed she has had cheating allegations levelled against her and co-stars of the hit ITV quiz show.

Hegerty, known by fans as “the Governess”, is one of the quiz show’s “chasers” - a group of experts who try to prevent contestants from winning the cash prize.

The other chasers on the show include the Beast, the Dark Destroyer, the Sinnerman, the Vixen and the Menace.

In a new interview, the star revealed that viewers of the show say “all sorts of things” to her and her colleagues, including levelling cheating allegations.

The 65-year-old TV personality shut down claims, telling the Daily Star: “I get people saying all sorts of things. They ask me if I cheat. They say, ‘You’ve got someone in your ears telling you the answers’.

“Others say Bradley reads the questions faster for the Chasers. I’ve checked with a stopwatch and he doesn’t do that.”

She then joked: “If the show did any of that, wouldn’t they get six better-looking people?”

Hegerty continued: “There are always going to be cynical people, but we have independent adjudicators – there’s nothing secret happening. It wouldn’t work if it wasn’t all above board.”

“Sometimes I respond and sometimes I think, ‘Oh, just go away… you’ve been saying this for 14 years… just shove off’,” she said.

“It’s not really worth it. People are always trying to find a reason not to trust something – they think they’re really clever.

“If people want to see how good we are, they can go against us. We’re always going to quizzes that are public. I go to quizzes a lot to maintain my skills. Sometimes I lose and sometimes I win.” But Hegerty is keen to continue her role on the show, she added: “I couldn’t imagine a better job.”

In an interview with The Guardian in 2021, Hegerty explained how she got her role on the popular quiz show.

After a brief stint on Mastermind in the late 80s, Hegerty told the outlet she got involved in a national circuit that organised a big quiz once a month.

After much success, Hegerty was then approached at a World Quizzing Championship event in Ludlow, Shropshire, where she said she met “the largest man I’ve ever seen in my life”, who introduced himself as Mark Labbett.

Labbett, now also known as The Beast, told her about a new ITV quiz show which he would feature in and after Hegerty tuned in, she liked it. When she heard they were hiring more quizzers, she applied and that is how Hegerty became the Governess.

Hegerty was originally going to be known as the Headmistress, but the show’s host, Bradley Walsh, started calling her the Governess.

“I don’t know, he just saw something governessy in me,” she told The Guardian at the time.

“She can basically do what she likes, whereas a headmistress has a board of governors she has to report to,” Hegerty said.

That same year (2021), TVZone reported that the popular ITV game show scored its biggest ever audience, attracting an average of 5.05 million viewers.