Beat The Chasers fans are demanding answers after Anne Hegerty was missing from the ITV show

Bradley didn’t offer an explanation (Image: ITV)

Beat The Chasers returned to screens tonight with Bradley Walsh at the helm as viewers tuned into to watch their favourite quiz brains battle it out against the contestants.

Fans welcomed popular chasers Paul ‘The Sinnerman’ Sinha, Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan, Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett and Darragh ‘The Menace’ Ennis to the show but when Bradley moved over to the fifth seat to welcome Anne ‘The Governess’ Hegerty her seat was empty.

Looking shocked with gasps from the crowd, Bradley said: “The Governess, what’s wrong with The Governess anyone?”

Paul then joked: “No one really knows where she is at the moment but if anyone spots her the public are warned not to approach under any circumstances.”

Bradley then replied: “Well we need six chasers. The Governess may be indisposed but right now we have flown all the way from Australia – yes the lead Australian chaser, it’s Issa Schultz everyone.”

Anne was absent from tonight’s episode (Image: ITV)

The Aussie star was welcomed onto the stage telling viewers: “I’m excited, we’ve got Beat The Chasers in Australia so I know the format.”

Bradley asked him his nickname, to which he admitted: “I am the super nerd.”

But fans at home were left scratching their heads and demanding to know where Anne was.

“Where tf is Anne, we don’t know this guy,” blasted one fan.

“#beatthechasers i want a proper explanation where anne is? is she ok?,” penned a second, while a third said: “Issa has big boots to fill.”

A seasoned quiz pro, Issa is already a Chase legend with eight Aussie Quizzing Championship titles between 2011 and 2021, plus appearances on The Rich List and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

Issa Schultz replaced Anne (Image: ITV)

He’s renowned for his formidable knowledge and quizzing skills. But some fans turned detective and tried to figure why she was off.

Some fans pointed out that the show appeared the be a repeat episode, with even one of the contestants chiming in.

Player Josh Draws who appeared on the show, posted on X: “My phone is blowing up, am I on #BeatTheChasers again?”

Another posted that Anne has been off ill with Covid confirming it was indeed a repeat episode.

“This is a repeat of a repeat, ITV should be ashamed putting this on again on Friday peak time. By the way for those wondering where Anne is she had Covid at the time of recording this and they got one of the Australian chasers to fill in.#BeatTheChasers,” one disgruntled viewer tweeted.

When the episode was filmed way back in 2022, Anne had to take a step back from filming and she announced on X, that she wouldn’t be appearing in Beat The Chasers due to contracting Covid-19 at the time. Her tweet read: “Unfortunately I’ve contracted Covid-19 so won’t be filming this series of #BeatTheChasers.”