Workplace romance? Anne Hegerty gets candid about Mark Labbett

The Chase’s Anne Hegerty, 62, has shut down rumours she fancies her co-star Mark Labbett, 55, saying she doesn’t “do younger men”.

Anne, who’s nicknamed ‘The Governess’ on the game show, made the comments after viewers at home accused her of checking out ‘The Beast’, as he’s known on the popular series, in his board shorts during a recent episode on the spin-off show The Chasers Road Trip: Trains, Brains And Automobiles, which aired about a week ago in the UK.

But Anne – who’s godmother to Mark’s four-year-old son – said the scene in Miami was deliberately edited, adding that Mark wasn’t exactly her type.

“Let’s not go there,” Anne told The Sun. “I always say we’re not each other’s type and I don’t do younger men. I just looked over my shoulder at the sea and they cut in an image of Mark coming out. Mark was not actually doing that at that time. Editors are wicked. Producers just like to do that sort of thing. I laughed and then I rolled my eyes and thought, ‘For God’s sake, now everyone’s going to think I have a crush on Mark’!”

Mark officially split from his wife – who’s also his second cousin – Katie, 28, in August last year after discovering she was cheating on him with a younger man. At the time, Mark told The Sun they tried to work things out for their son, but it was easier said than done.

In the same interview, Anne also commented on Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace’s rather fitted workout shorts, telling the publication, “I didn’t notice Shaun’s budgie smugglers. I suppose I’m just used to not looking at the boys. I wasn’t aware of it until everyone started pointing it out.”

In a sneak-peak clip, which was released by ITV on Twitter ahead of the show’s premiere last month, one scene showed Shaun practising yoga on the beach. Fans couldn’t help but point out his revealing workout shorts, with Twitter user @katherine050100 commenting at the time, “It’s fair to say that Shaun Wallace is leaving nothing to the imagination.”

And @efawkner jokingly added, “Just came on to see if Shaun Wallace’s ‘bulge’ was trending. Eat your heart out, Greg Norman!”