Nick Hewer details worries over Channel 4 wanting to ‘shake things up’ with Countdown
Countdown: Rachel Riley asks Nick Hewer why he's not married
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Nick Hewer, 77, has revealed his concerns about Channel 4’s Countdown, as he told Express.co.uk that the network could want to “shake things up” after he leaves in May. The Apprentice star “hopes” the daytime favourite will remain the same, despite the famously acerbic Anne Robinson, 76, taking over his role as host imminently.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it
Nick Hewer
Opening up on the future of Countdown, Nick divulged: “I think Channel 4 would quite like to shake things up a bit.
“But I hope they don’t shake it up too much, because they must not interfere with the show that’s been running for almost 40 years. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
It was announced last month that ex-The Weakest Link host Anne will be Nick’s replacement from May onwards.
He admitted he thinks the dynamic on the show will ultimately change once she joins his co-stars, Rachel Riley and Susie Dent.
Speaking on the all-female dynamic of the programme, Nick shared: “I’m sure it will change. I’m sure the dynamic will be fun because Rachel and Susie are very collegiate as people.
“What men don’t understand is that women get on pretty well together. I’m sure they will get on just fine, they will make it their business to get on fine because it is the show that matters.
“There won’t be any squabbling I am sure. I didn’t have any squabbling,” he added.
Nick began working on Countdown back in 2012 after quitting The Apprentice, where he starred as an adviser to Lord Sugar.
However, he decided during the pandemic that he would like to have some time away from camera indefinitely.
He revealed: “Much as I’ve had a wonderful time hosting a truly great show, lately I haven’t looked forward to the intensity of the filming.
“Countdown’s a tough gig for an old ‘un, 250 shows a year with five shows recorded every day in three-day blocks and I’ve now been doing it for nearly a decade.”
Recording for the popular show has meant non-stop travelling up and down the UK.
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He continued: “I’ve travelled up to the Granada Studios in Manchester — and more recently to the glamorous Media City in Salford — so often that I know the route blindfolded.
“And it feels like I haven’t spent more than a couple of nights a week sleeping in my own bed for the past 10 years,” he added to The Daily Mail.
The star has spent much of lockdown with his partner Catherine in their rural Northamptonshire farmhouse.
The couple has been together for 20 years and he said that it was a “pleasure” to spend more time with her.
He admitted: “I also started to think about the future, about encroaching old age — when you’re 76, it’s a slow descent through twinges and aches until things start dropping off — and about what I really wanted to
Meanwhile, Anne has said she is excited to come on board the show.
“The show is almost as old as I am and just as historic,” she joked on Steph’s Packed Lunch.
Anne said she was “particularly excited” to be working alongside the show’s two other “formidable women”.
“Three Clever Girls Do Countdown! Don’t you love the sound of that?” she asked.
“Worryingly, Susie and Rachel are not only very smart but younger, prettier and thinner than me,” she added.
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