Anne Hegerty "really wanted" to be famous.
Anne Hegerty 'always wanted' to be famous
The 66-year-old quizzer is best known for her long-running role on the ITV1 teatime game show 'The Chase' and admitted that she had thought about the fame that would come with suddenly landing a public job in her fifties and joked that she was "slightly irritated" that the recognition was not completely instantaneous.
Speaking on 'The Lewis Nicholls Show, she said: "I have a terrible confession to make - yes I did [consider it]. And I really wanted that. I was slightly irritated that it had taken so long to arrive. Not that 'The Chase' had taken so long to come along, but very, from the start it quickly got three million a day and kind of stayed there. I was irritated at the lack of recognition. The press did not pick up on us until about 2015 or so. It was like nobody wanted to admit that we existed.
In the years since she joined the likes of Mark Labbett and Shaun Wallace on the show - which sees teams of four go head-to-head against a Chaser in an attempt to win thousands - Anne has become a regular face in pantomime across the Christmas season and competed on the 2018 series of 'I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!'.
Prior to finding fame, Anne worked as a freelance writer, proofreader and reporter but always knew that there was "something else" there for her and wanted fame, but wasn't entirely sure how she was going to achieve it.
She said: "All my life, I said to myself that it was just a substitute for something else. I thought I just wanted friends or something like that but now I have fame, I'm like 'Nah, it was this.' It wasn't wanting friends.
"I don't know how to explain it but I just like the whole vibe of people know who I am, they sort of give me space but breathlessly fangirl as well.
" must have a horribly bloated ego! I always wanted it. Part of me was like 'Yes of course this will happen one day, darlings' but then part of me was like 'How?'