Anne Hegerty: why Governess quit The Chase spin-off Beat the Chasers, and who is her replacement Issa Schultz?

Known as The Governess, Anne Hegerty has left her position on Beat the Chasers.

Issa Schultz, from The Chase Australia, has replaced her on the ITV show, hosted by Bradley Walsh.

But why did Anne Hegerty leave and what do we know about her replacement? Find out here.

Who is Anne Hegerty?

Anne Hegerty is a quizzer and television personality from London.

Hegerty has been known as The Governess since 2010, when she joined the ITV game show, The Chase.

The Governess has managed to win 79.8% of her chases over the course of 11 years and 415 episodes.

This makes her the number one chaser in the world, and she is known as the hardest to beat.

Since 2020, she has also been a chaser on the spin-off show, Beat the Chasers.

The 63-year-old was also a contestant on the ITV reality show I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, in 2018.

Has Anne Hegerty left The Chase?

Anne Hegerty caught Covid-19, and will not be able to film The Chase spin-off series Beat the Chasers.

Her Tweet, from 17 March, 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)".

However, on 19 March, Hegerty posted to Twitter with a picture of a negative lateral flow test.

The Governess has been on Beat the Chaser for the first four series, but will not be in the fifth series which has been filming throughout March.

Who is her Beat the Chasers replacement Issa Schultz?

Issa Schultz was born in Cornwall, England, in 1984.

However, his family moved to Queensland, Australia in 1995 - and he is now known as an Australian television quiz personality.

Schultz is best known for being one of the chasers on The Chase Australia, where he is nicknamed ‘The Supernerd’.

In 2009, he won $200,000 on The Rich List.

He is an eight-time winner of the Australian Quizzing Championships (2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021).

In addition to this, he is a seven-time Pairs champion (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2020).

The 38-year-old has also appeared on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and The Einstein Factor.

Schultz appeared as a celebrity contestant on Hell’s Kitchen Australia in 2017.

In 2020, he placed 23rd in the World Quizzing Championships.

What is Beat the Chasers?

Bradley Walsh hosts a spin-off of the popular quiz show The Chase.

Beat the Chasers sees contestants from all over the UK face all of the Chasers in head-to-head challengers.

Contestants answer five multiple choice questions for the chance to bank up to £5,000 before they are given the option of facing between two and all five of the chasers.

The more chasers they are against, the more money they can win.

The game sees questions alternating between the contestant and the chasers. If either gets the question wrong, the clock will keep running down until a correct answer is given.

The first side to run out of time loses the game.

What is The Chase?

The Chase is also hosted by Bradley Walsh.

A group of four contestants take it in turns to answer a series of questions to win an amount of money.

The chaser then offers the contestant a higher or lower value of money - the lower value puts you 3 questions ahead of the chaser, whilst the higher value leaves you with no slip ups.

The chaser must try to catch up with the quizzer before they reach the end of the board.

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