Chaser Anne Hegerty furious, reveals secrets of The Chase salary

Anne Hegerty has revealed some behind-the-scenes secrets of The Chase. Photo / Supplied

The Chase's Anne Hegerty, who is known as The Governess, has revealed she's furious after her salary was slashed following the introduction of a new Chaser.

The 62-year-old has opened up about how the payment scheme works on the show, revealing the Chasers are only paid per performance, meaning the introduction of a new Chaser will see them all get less money.

With Covid restrictions and presenter Bradley Walsh's tight and difficult schedule, Hegerty says she's feeling financial pressure after seeing less screen time compared to normal.

After being asked on The Lewis Nicholls Show on YouTube whether she wants a new Chaser, Hegerty said: "This is a tricky one, because a lot of the public imagine that we are on the same sort of deal that Hollywood stars were in the 1930s.

"They got paid a salary per month, per year, and they were salaried employees at the studio and the studio would find them things to do for that salary. That isn't actually how that works.

"We, the Chasers and Bradley, we get paid a flat fee for every (show) that we do.

"So, any show that I'm doing, is a show for which I'm being paid and the other Chasers aren't. And that applies to all of us.

"If you're going to divide the shows by six rather than five, then, you know, do the maths."

New Chaser Darragh Ennis is from Ireland and is a neuroscientist. He first appeared on the show as a contestant in 2017, and his general knowledge skills greatly impressed Paul Sinha. Photo / Supplied

She said Walsh's heavy filming schedule means they can go for long periods without making new episodes, which means a drop in income.

"The problem is Bradley is … so superb at everything he does and can do so many different things, and so of course he's massively in demand.

"And there's about 10 other things he's doing besides the daytime Chase. A lot of the time we'll find, 'You know that filming block that was booked in, we are not filming that week after all.'

"It turns out, Bradley was doing another game show or something like that. And that's a period of time where we aren't working.

"Then obviously you add in a global pandemic and last year, because Bradley was still doing Doctor Who, we only recorded 93 shows. And we should've recorded twice that already.

"This year we were hoping to make up for it and do 150, 160, and then well that didn't happen. So we hoped we will catch up in the spring but then again it all depends on whether Bradley's available, it depends on a lot of whether one of these vaccines work out."

Hegerty's vocal dissatisfaction comes weeks after The Chase UK announce a sixth Chaser named Darragh 'The Menace' Ennis who was a former contestant on the show.