Anne Robinson has branded rumours of a feud between her and 'Countdown' mathematician Rachel Riley "nonsense".
Anne Robinson has shut down claims she's in a feud with Rachel Riley
The 77-year-old game show host has just announced she is stepping down from the Channel 4 puzzle show in the summer, after only a year, and while she barley spoke to co-presenter Rachel and Dictionary Corner's lexicographer Susie Dent due to the "tight" filming schedule, Anne has shut down claims the pair are locked in a rift.
She told the Daily Mail: "The way that it’s filmed is so tight that ... we don’t have time to talk to each other.
"Between shows we have a ten-minute turn around to get changed. We can go for almost a whole run without doing more than waving to each other from the end of a corridor."
The former ‘Weakest Link’ said of the gossip: "I’m not saying I would go on holiday with Rachel Riley, but she is brilliant
"Absolutely honestly, I do admire her – she is really, really good at what she does, as is Susie Dent.
"Look, Rachel has just come back from having a baby and she is standing throughout and faultless, whereas I get to sit down.
"She is noisy, yes she and Susie both are – they are a formidable pair those two."
Anne - who took over the role from Nick Hewer in 2021 - insisted she was leaving ‘Countdown’ to spend more time with her family.
She said in a statement: "I’ve had a blast hosting this wonderful show. And I stayed longer than I signed up for. Now it is time for an older woman to take the reins.
“I hope too I’ve encouraged TV bosses to realise that not all women at the wrong end of their seventies are in care homes playing bingo and watching conjuring tricks.
"In fact the genius of Countdown is that it’s a brilliant way to keep the brain exercised. I run 5k most days of the week.
“And I can now do an anagram at twice the speed I could this time last year.
"But I have grandchildren, a large garden and a home in New York, all deserving more of my attention.”
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