Anne Robinson denies making ‘racist jibe’ about Vanessa Feltz’s partner in axed The Weakest Link moment: ‘It wasn’t quite what I said’

Anne Robinson has hit back at Vanessa Feltz after the Radio 2 host accused her of making a ‘racist jibe’ during an appearance on The Weakest Link.

Earlier this year it was announced that Anne would be showing her softer side as the new host of Countdown, replacing Nick Hewer who is stepping down from the show this week.

Anne’s first episode will air on Monday June 28, and as the news was announced, Vanessa claimed she was ‘horrified’ when appearing on the BBC quiz show, Anne asked her: ‘Looking the way you do, how do you think you land all these big black boyfriends?’

The actual moment referring to Vanessa’s partner of 15 years, Ben Ofoedu, was cut from the episode.

Anne, however, has fired back.

‘What I actually said to her was: “How can someone like you attract gorgeous black boyfriends?”’ she explained to The Sun.

‘First of all, she’d talked endlessly about doing just that, secondly it’d taken her 16 years to discover she was upset about it, and maybe if I had a radio show to promote I might have done the same.

‘I’m not complaining about it, but it wasn’t quite what I said. I think she came twice on The Weakest Link and we certainly heard nothing for 16 years.’

She added: ‘I probably couldn’t say it now, but it wasn’t derogatory except to her.’

However, Anne has promised to give Countdown contestants an easier time than she did on the notoriously cruel, The Weakest Link.

‘I don’t want the contestants to have a box of Kleenex next to them,’ she said to The Mirror.

‘But it’s exactly the same as the Weakest Link. If there was a 19-year-old undergraduate, I wouldn’t treat her as I would a not-very-attractive old man, to whom I would ask, “Have you always been so devastatingly handsome?”‘

Metro.co.uk has contacted Vanessa Feltz’s reps for comment on this story.

Countdown airs weekdays at 2.10pm on Channel 4.

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