Fans of The Chase may know her more commonly as the The Governess, but Anne Hegerty will not be appearing in the new series of Beat the Chasers.
Instead she will be replaced by Issa Schultz, from The Chase Australia, who is set to appear on the ITV show hosted by Bradley Walsh.
If you're wondering why Anne left, the reason is quite simple. Viewers of the popular gameshow should also be quite excited about her replacement, as the new series is set to bring a buzz of fresh knowledge to viewers.
So why is Anne Hegerty missing from Beat The Chasers, and what do we know about the new Chaser replacing her? Here's all we know so far.
Who is Anne Hegerty?
Anne is one of the best-known Chasers, and a London-based TV personality. She's was dubbed The Governess as far back as 2010 when she joined the ITV game show.
In The Chase's history, The Governess has been clever enough to win 79.8% of games within her 11 years of appearing on the show over the course of a whopping 415 episodes.
These stats make her the best Chaser in the world, and she's renowned as being the trickiest to beat. She's also featured in the spin-off show, Beat The Chasers, since 2020.
For those who don't watch The Chase you may recognise Anne, 63, from when she did a stint on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here back in 2018.
Why isn't Anne Hegerty on Beat The Chasers?
The TV personality contracted Covid-19, which meant she was unable to film the spin-off show. Making the announcement on Twitter back in March, she said: "Unfortunately I’ve contracted Covid-19 so won’t be filming this series of #BeatTheChasers.
"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)."
A few days later she went onto post an image of a negative lateral flow test. Due to being unable to film she will now not feature in the fifth series of Beat The Chaser as it was filmed throughout March 2022.
It will be the first time she's absent from the hit spin-off since it began in 2020.
Who is Issa Schultz?
Issa Schultz was actually born in Cornwall in 1984, but his family later relocated to Australia in 1995 where he became a television quiz personality.
Schultz features in The Chase Australia where he is known as ‘The Supernerd’. In 2009 he also bagged $200,000 on The Rich List.
Not to mention he's won the Australian Quizzing Championships eight times, as well as the Pairs seven times. Schultz, 38, has also featured on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and The Einstein Factor.
Back in 2020 he also came in 23rd place when he competed at the World Quizzing Championships.
He has come into Beat The Chasers swinging, already warning fans that he might overtake The Governess and her spot on the show, having expressed in the past that he wants to become the number one ranked Chaser in the world.
The Chase Australia star reportedly "dropped everything" to fly from Brisbane to the UK.
He said: "I got a last-minute call to step into The Governess’s cold and chilly shoes," reportedly making the journey within hours of being called.
Speaking to the Sun’s TV Mag, he said: "What a delight. It was close to 1am Brisbane time - I’m a night owl and my Australian boss said to the UK bosses: ‘Just call him, he’ll be up.’
"And then I was on the plane, I think it was close to 9am that very morning. As they say, the show must go on! I’d be foolish not to do it.”
Offering words of encouragement Anne, who has appeared on The Chase Australia for seven years, said: "Go for it Issa, I know you can do this."
Speaking to The Express at the BAFTA TV awards, Anne said: “What happened was Issa is the only Australian Chaser who was born in the UK.
“So he was the one person they could put on a plane and he wouldn’t need a visa.
“Not to take anything away, but we could have gone down to five Chasers.”
*Beat The Chasers airs Monday at 9pm on ITV
