ANNE ROBINSON
Happy I’m no longer the Queen of Mean
ANNE Robinson’s acid tongue earned her the nickname Queen of Mean – but another four-letter word will reveal a different side to the latest host of Countdown: W-A-R-M.
She admits: “With the Weakest Link I never, ever spoke to contestants before the show – I was on the podium, with a stern face.”
The crossword fan is clued in to a softer approach as her latest contestants juggle consonants, vowels and numbers: “With Countdown, I do have a quick chat with them, to stop them thinking it’s going to be very cruel. You’re aiming to have the show as warm and funny as you possibly can, while retaining, I suppose, the integrity of it.”
But she hints players game for verbal sparring may still encounter tart responses: “You have to judge how far you can go – some are quite shy. I don’t want the contestants to have to have a box of Kleenex next to them.
“But it’s exactly the same as the Weakest Link, in that if there was a 19-year-old undergraduate I wouldn’t treat her as I would a not-very-attractive old man, to whom I would ask, ‘Have you always been so devastatingly handsome?’”
At 76, when many female journalists and presenters have long since left our TV screens, it did not take Anne long to say Yes to the offer to succeed Countdown’s Nick Hewer.
“I gave it a few minutes, and I thought, ‘That’s a really good idea’. It’s a cerebral programme, it’s been on longer than the others, and if I can cheer up the contestants a bit, we can have some fun.”
She is also glad for the chance to sit down at work, having spent 11 years on her feet hosting Weakest Link on the BBC, where she quickly built her formidable reputation.
Anne says she is different to her five Countdown predecessors, not only for being the first woman but also because her newspaper background means she will get more out of the contestants. “What people like you and I know how to do, is interview,” she says, conspiratorially, to me. “I’m not saying they didn’t know how to, I just think I probably take a different approach.”
This, she knows, could make her a bit Marmite: “People either really like you or can’t stand you,” she says thoughtfully.
“I hope that we might bring some new viewers along, but some will absolutely loathe me, because they’ll feel I’ve ruined their show.”
This doesn’t faze her in the slightest. “I purposely don’t do Twitter or Instagram or Facebook or whatever. I can go on thinking everybody loves me.” Stepping into this amount of work – she calls daily show Countdown a “hungry horse” because of the amount of filming needed – is quite a shock after 13 months in her sprawling Cotswolds home with daughter Emma, son-in-law Liam and grandsons Hudson and Parker, who decamped from London.
But making up an all-female presenting team, with Susie Dent and Rachel Riley, was another plus for Anne joining the show.
“They’re fantastic, both top of their game,” Anne says, calling Rachel a “genius” for the effortless way she does the maths.
“I urged [the show] to get more female contestants and we’ve had one or two shows where the entire studio is female. I’m not asking for that every day, it’s nice to have a mix
“But it was a punch the air moment when it first happened.”
That said, she groaned when it was pointed out she was the first female host in the show’s 39-year history. “We should be past all that,” she says.
With her years of experience on programmes including Points of View and Watchdog plus decades of tough newsrooms, you would think Anne would escape first-day nerves.
Not so: “Actually, I felt very nervous and anxious. I mean, it’s about getting it right isn’t it?
“I don’t care if people think I’m ugly but I do care if they don’t think I’m any good at what I do.”