Anne Robinson admits regretting not having waited to go on TV after getting a makeover

Anne Robinson has confessed that she regrets not having waited to make her television debut.

The presenter, 78, was poked fun after undergoing cosmetic surgery when she was around 60 and appeared on The Weakest Link.

Speaking to Angela Scanlon’s Ask Me Anything on Irish TV, she says she wishes she hadn’t gone straight to TV with the new look.

She explained: “When you do cosmetic surgery, it’s a bit like taking a leg of lamb out of the oven. You have to let it rest a bit.

“I got on TV pretty soon after and it was a famous headline that said, ‘That face is the weakest link’ because it was pretty bloated.”

However, the quick-witted game show host has no regrets about being honest about the work she did in 2004.

She said, “I think you’re only as sick as your secrets. It’s very hard to pretend you haven’t gotten a makeover.

“When I started on television there were quite a few presenters who were the same age as me and now they are all younger. It seems easier to be open about it.

Anne, who hosted The Weakest Link from 2000 to 2012, became host of Countdown last year but stepped down in July 2022.

She said: ‘I tried to be nice on Countdown. I loved it, but nothing was ever going to be as wonderful as The Weakest Link or being a journalist.

“I probably made a mistake thinking I could replicate it in another game show. [Countdown] is a brilliant show, but it doesn’t really require a smart presenter.

She added: “If you were obese enough, I would say ‘What do you do when you’re not eating? “. But you can’t do that anymore.