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The Chase’s Anne Hegerty opens up about being in debt

Anne Hegerty said that previously her finances were in a bad state (Getty)
Anne Hegerty said that previously her finances were in a bad state (Getty)

As the strict ‘Governess’ on quiz show The Chase, Anne Hegerty strikes fear into contestants with her amazing knowledge, however, it wasn’t long ago that Anne was struggling to make ends meet.

The Chase star was appearing on White Wine Question Time alongside fellow Chaser Shaun Wallace, where she opened up to podcast host Kate Thornton, about the awful state her finances were in.

“What happened was that my flat in Manchester is a housing association flat – I own half of it and rent the other half – and I hadn't been keeping up with my rent,” she revealed to Thornton.

“The woman in charge of making sure people do that, knocked on the door, and she sort of just basically walked in and closed the door behind me and said ‘Right, we are going to get this sorted out’”

Read more: The Chase's Anne Hegerty admits struggle with sex and intimacy due to autism

The former I’m A Celebrity camp mate, who was diagnosed with autism in her mid-forties, said her saviour came in the form of social worker, Jeff McKenzie, who “basically rescued” her.

“He saved my life and he was far more competent and efficient than I was,” she said.

“He knew all the ways to get the water board to lay off me and to get banks to lay off me and to kind of get my finances back on track. He was brilliant.”

Since joining The Chase in 2010, thankfully Hegerty has been financially secure, but she says she wouldn’t know what other job to do. Previously she had been an academic proof-reader, but confessed, while she was good at the actual job, she wasn’t good at the admin that came with it.

Chaser, Anne "The Governess" Hegerty on The Chase. (© ITV/Matt Frost)
Chaser, Anne "The Governess" Hegerty on The Chase. (© ITV/Matt Frost)

Read more: Anne Hegerty: I wasn't 'looking' to be the face of autism

“I was good at it,” Hegerty told Thornton about her previous career.

“What I wasn't good at really was keeping up with the paperwork. I've never been good at multitasking. I can't really juggle things.

“I was struggling to get things finished in time because I was getting distracted by other things and then I was letting clients down and that meant I was losing work.”

Shaun Wallace, aka the Dark Destroyer on The Chase, said hardship, like what Anne went through, is often the thing that makes us stronger.

“I think hardship and adversity have been the making of us and everybody,” he said.

Anne says getting the job on The Chase changed her life (Getty)
Anne says getting the job on The Chase changed her life (Getty)

He continued: “I don't care who you are - everybody needs that luck to actually show their talent for what it's truly worth. I had that when I started doing quizzing and I won Mastermind. I never thought in a million years that's something I could do.”

Read more: Anne Hegerty says she'd be 'muddling along on benefits' if it weren't for 'The Chase' role

Anne agreed that getting the job as a Chaser had totally transformed her life.

“I mean, this really is the thing that has changed my life,” she stated.

“I'd had to go through four separate auditions and was kind of on tenterhooks about it. I don't think I've ever done anything that has made so much of a difference in my life as actually getting the job on The Chase, frankly.”

Hear Anne and Shaun discuss the world of quizzing, which historical figures they would like to be and what their greatest achievements have been. Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.