Romesh Ranganathan says he won’t be as ‘brutal’ on The Weakest Link as Anne Robinson

Virgin Radio

28 Sep 2021, 10:48

The comedian plans to put his own spin on the popular quiz show when he steps into hosting duties.

A League Of Their Own host Romesh Ranganathan will be taking over as host for the rebooted series of quiz show The Weakest Link. The move was announced in June, on the same day previous host Anne Robinson took over as host of Channel 4’s Countdown.

The Weakest Link originally ran from 2000 to 2012 on BBC One, and host Anne Robinson was famed for the iron fist with which she ruled the show. 

The BBC’s Director of Entertainment Kate Phillips said: “Weakest Link has always been a firm favourite with audiences and Anne Robinson was a terrific and formidable host. I can’t wait to see Romesh bring his own unique style of presenting to one of TV’s most memorable roles.”

In an interview with the Radio Times, Ranganathan expressed his anxiety at stepping into Robinson’s shoes. When asked if he will host the show as brutally as his predecessor, he said “Not brutal, but if somebody says something stupid then I’ll mention it”

“The original was amazing. Anne Robinson was great and I want to keep fans of the original happy.”

Speaking about what his signature on the show will be, he added: “I haven’t figured that out yet. If you do the wink, people will go, ‘Well, that’s Anne’s thing.’ If you do something else, people will go, ‘That’s not as good as the wink’.”

When asked if she would ever return to The Weakest Link, Anne Robinson told the Radio Times “It’s like selling a house. You can’t go back and do the garden, can you?

“It was fantastic. It was such a ball. It was completely different because I realised that I couldn’t do cheesy game show host and that feisty contestants needed to be dealt with in a completely different way. For 11 years it was wonderful, but that’s it.”

The new reboot will feature exclusively celebrity contestants, and is currently scheduled to run for a 12 episode series.