Anne Hegerty reveals why she won't appear on next series of Beat The Chasers

Issa Schultz will step in!

Author: Alex RossPublished 18th Mar 2022

She's one of the most popular Chasers on hit ITV gameshow The Chase, so fans will be disappointed to learn the news that Anne Hegerty (AKA The Governess) will not feature on the upcoming series of spin-off show Beat The Chasers.

Anne took to Twitter on Thursday 17th March to reveal she will no longer be able to film the upcoming new series, after contracting COVID-19.

She wrote: 'Unfortunately I’ve contracted Covid-19 so won’t be filming this series of #BeatTheChasers.'

The 63-year-old went on to reveal The Chase Australia's Issa Schultz will replace her for the series, writing: 'The fantastic @Issa25 will be stepping in for me and I’m looking forward to watching the series when it’s on air later this year. I feel fine, but I'm still positive! (in all respects)'. (sic)

In response to Anne's tweet, Issa wrote: 'Massive massive shoes to fill. This Supernerd will do his best not to let you down lovely Anne #BeatTheChasers #wheresmybowtie xx'. (sic)

Check out all the things you didn't know about The Chase:

The Chasers are the best of friends

Despite their rivalry throughout the show, Anne 'The Governess' Hegerty, Mark 'The Beast' Labbett, Shaun 'The Dark Destroyer' Wallace, Paul 'The Sinnerman' Sinha and Jenny 'The Vixen' Ryan are all good friends outside of the show and regularly hang out.


Jenny and Anne even quiz together on Monday nights!

Bradley Walsh can film up to three shows a day

There has been thousands of episodes of The Chase, and show host Bradley has hosted every single one. Filming for the show now has a quick turnaround, and only takes around two hours, with 12 episodes recorded over a period of four days.

Before The Chase, The Chasers all had pretty normal (but intellectual) real-life jobs

Mark used to be a Maths teacher (he is a mathematician after all), Anne was a proof reader, Paul is a stand-up comedian, Jenny is a writer, Shaun is still a criminal barrister and newest Chaser Darragh Ennis was a former contestant!

The Chase has been running for 12 years!

The first episode aired on 29th June 2009.

Contestants are completely unaware of which Chaser they are facing.

Bradley has no clue either.

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of questions have been asked.

The Chase has a team of around eight question writers from all sorts of backgrounds, including Olav Bjortomt, the number one quizzer in the world!


Bradley Walsh doesn't see the questions beforehand either, saying: "The second the contestant sees the question, that's when I see the question."

The Chase airs in nine countries

There are nine international versions of The Chase, with shows airing in Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and the United States.
Some of the shows also feature familiar faces, as both Mark Labbett (The Beast) and Anne Hegerty (The Governess) both appear on the Australian version. Mark Labbett also stars on the United States version.

The Chasers all give 100% and get annoyed when they lose

The Chasers are officially the most competitive people in the world. Facts. They're not a fan of losing, even when the contestants (who are sometimes celebrities) are playing for charity.


Contestants do beat The Chasers, though! In September 2021, 20-year-old Eden took home a whopping £75k after beating Darragh Ennis. He won the biggest amount of prize money ever won on daytime TV show by a solo player. Impressive.

Following the success of daily show The Chase, ITV bosses unveiled a brand new spin-off called Beat The Chasers in 2020, which ran for five consecutive nights.

The show brings all of the Chasers together on one team, including Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan, and Darragh Ennis, as contestants attempt to beat them to win large sums of money.

The popular series has since had four series, with series five expected later in the year.

Now read:

The Chase contestants get emotional after MEGA jackpot win

All the things you never knew about The Chase

The Chase viewers witness history as 20-year-old wins £75,000 ALONE

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