Chaser Anne Hegerty talks about being mugged and the extraordinary fan reaction to her in New Zealand.

The Governess Anne Hegerty tells James Rampton why she loves being on The Chase and what happened when a couple tried to mug her.

The Governess may be a ferocious and pitiless opponent for the contestants on British quiz show The Chase, but that has done nothing to prevent her from becoming immensely popular the world over.

She is particularly well loved in New Zealand – to the point that it is hard for her to wander down the streets of any town unnoticed.

Anne Hegerty, who has played The Governess since the second series of the show in 2010, takes up the story.

“In New Zealand, The Chase is shown twice a day and is watched by a third of the population. I can’t walk down the street in Auckland without being mobbed,” she says.

“I remember when I was first there, I sent a message to the other Chasers saying, ‘I’ve found a Polynesian island where we are worshipped like gods!’ ”

Talking to TV Guide from her home in England, Hegerty says that she also gets waylaid by fans in her native UK.

“I was driving from Manchester to Watford yesterday and I stopped at Stafford service station. I had just had my hair done and I was wearing a mask, but a bloke still clocked me and said, ‘Is it Anne?’ It’s nice when people recognise me by my name, rather than as The Governess.”

Hegerty, who has also hosted the quiz show Britain’s Brightest Family for the past three years, proceeds to assess why her character on The Chase has struck such a chord with audiences right around the globe.

“People like a woman who looks like the back of the bus being very self-confident, flirting with attractive male contestants and looking at you in a way that suggests, ‘I could kill you with my little finger’. I’m not invincible in terms of the quiz, but people really like that persona.”

The 62-year-old quiz whiz, who was involved in one of the most famous moments from the show when quizmaster Bradley Walsh

burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter after asking a question about the German athlete Fanny Chmelar, says The Governess is, “More of an act than some people think. However, one of the producers told me, ‘Nah, she’s you’.

“She is modelled a little bit on my grandmother and one of my aunts. She is the me that comes out if someone makes me indignant.

“That happens, for instance, if someone tries to rob me.

“The last time a couple tried to mug me for my shopping outside a supermarket, I swore at them so viciously, they said, ‘We’re going to report you to the police for that language’.

“I’m not easy to shock, but I can be irritated by how easy other people are to shock.”

For all her popularity as The Governess, Hegerty really likes doing TV programmes that show a different side to her.

“It’s nice to do things other than The Governess.

“For example, a couple of years ago, I did Celebrity Juice. It was nice to do daft things on that, like getting into the back of the car and doing an impersonation of Liam Gallagher.

“It was a post-watershed show, but all the swear words were still cut. I’m a tremendous swearer.”

Despite her enjoyment of other shows, Hegerty has no intention of leaving The Chase.

“I can’t ever imagine retiring as The Governess.

“Ratings for The Chase have recently gone up by a million a day in the UK. This is the job I was born for. I’m never going to do anything bigger than this. “I am aware that this is the thing I’ll be remembered for. ‘Fanny Chmelar’ will be on my gravestone.” Hegerty closes by revealing that she has one unfulfilled dream. “I’d like to do some acting. That would be cool. “Adam Bostock-Smith, one of the writers on The Chase, has written a sitcom with me in mind. My character is a housekeeper to two idiotic brothers and she’s the only sane person in the house. She is not entirely unlike The Governess. “I wish the Marvel Comic Universe would come up with a character I could play. However, I can’t honestly imagine being one of the Avengers, unless I was carried around in a litter directing operations. “I wouldn’t want to do anything active like swinging around on ropes. I’d just want to give other people orders.”

“This is the job I was born for. I’m never going to do anything bigger than this.”

– Anne Hegerty