Anne Robinson doesn’t think she’d ‘get away’ with The Weakest Link today

Anne Robinson doesn’t think she’d ‘get away’ with The Weakest Link nowadays.

The quiz show ran for nearly 12 years on the BBC between 2000 and 2012 with Robinson as the host, and became known for her cutting quips and insults towards contestants.

However, in recent years, some of Robinson’s more vicious one-liners have shocked those looking at them under a 2021 lens, and the host admits that a lot of her insults would be ‘off limits’.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, the 76-year-old said: ‘I wasn’t exactly drowning kittens. But I would never get away with all that now. Times have changed so much that I don’t think we could even make The Weakest Link today.

‘I don’t think half the things I said then I could say now. Like: “Are you really that stupid?” Or: “Why are you so fat?” That would be off limits. Everyone would be too worried about the poor contestants’ mental health. 

‘Everyone would be too worried about sending them home with issues.’

The star did add that the contestants on the show were carefully vetted. 

Earlier this year, an old clip from The Weakest Link went viral as people called out Robinson for mocking a woman on benefits.

When the contestant Ann said she was a full-time single mother to three boys, Robinson said: ‘How many asbos? How many of your three boys have got tags on their ankles?’

When Ann replied: ‘None so far’, the host then asked: ‘You’re not on benefits are you?’, before asking whether she ‘went gay’ after splitting from two husbands. 

There were calls for Robinson to apologise, as the former journalist had just been announced as the new host of Countdown.

Robinson will take over the job later this month, as Nick Hewer steps down after nine years. 

She is the first woman to host the Channel 4 favourite after Richard Whiteley, Des Lynam, Des O’Connor, Jeff Stelling and Hewer, and the show will now have an all female team, with Rachel Riley and lexicographer Susie Dent.

Robinson begins hosting Countdown on June 28.