The 60-year-old quizzer spoke out after appearing to suggest she might want to step down from her TV work. “I love doing The Chase, I’m absolutely loyal to it and it will always be my top priority,” Anne Hegerty told Metro. “I don’t intend ever to leave! But ever since coming out of the jungle, it’s been an absolute whirlwind,” she added. “You can’t blame someone for idly fantasising about what it would be like not to have to do so much!”
Anne said all her fellow I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! 2018 campmates have been “feeling a bit overworked lately”, but added that they were hugely grateful for the opportunities which have cropped up since the show.
“We’re going to make the most of them as soon as we’ve got our breath back,” she added.
The Chaser previously opened up on feeling “overwhelmed” after her stint on I’m A Celeb last year.
She told the Daily Star Sunday her schedule had “gone bonkers” in the months which followed, saying: “Not a day goes by that I don’t think it would be cool to retire.”
The Governess also praised The Chase for the positive effect it has had on her life, saying she was “demoralised” and working as a proofreader from home before landing the job on the quiz show.
“Because I’m autistic, I found it difficult to get organised and so I was losing work,” she recalled.
Anne has featured as a Chaser on the game show since 2010 and, alongside her co-stars Mark Labbett, 53, and Shaun Wallace, 58, also appears on the Australian version of The Chase.
The ITV star was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in 2005, two years after watching a documentary on the condition, which she has said prompted her to think she might be on the spectrum of autism herself.
Following her appearance on I’m A Celebrity, she was praised for raising awareness of autism through her candid approach to speaking about her own experiences.
“I didn’t raise the autism issue,” Anne said in the jungle. “It’s not like, ‘I want you to know I have this interesting disability that you have to accommodate.’
“If someone else raises it then I make it quite clear that I’m happy to talk about it,” she added.
A statement from the National Autistic Society, released after Anne’s stint on the show, said: “We’ve loved seeing the outpouring of support for Anne Hegerty.
“We hope this will be the start of netter representation of autistic women in the media and help everyone understand the diversity of autism.”
They said public understanding of autism “is nowhere near as good as it should be”, adding: “Especially the often unique experiences of autistic women and girls.”
Anne struggled to cope with her unpredictable and often challenging time in the jungle, but overcame certain obstacles with the help if her campmates.
She later joked on This Morning: “I went really quickly from ‘I want to win this’ to ‘I hope I’m the first voted off’ to ‘get me out of here now.’”
The Chase airs weekdays at 5pm on ITV.