The Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson has said she would love to invite US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May on to the famous quiz show.
The renowned “Queen of Mean” said she had yet to decide whether to return to the BBC programme for future series, but mused over the guests she would like to interrogate.
Her comments came as she prepares for a celebrity resurrection of the game in aid of the broadcaster’s Children In Need Appeal Show this week.
Guests will include Love Island victor and Dancing On Ice contestant Kem Cetinay, Strictly Come Dancing’s Chizzy Akudolu, TV chef Rosemary Shrager, columnist Giles Coren and presenters Rylan Clark-Neal and Maya Jama.
Asked if she would return to the original, which ran for more than a decade from 2000, Robinson said: “I haven’t made a decision yet.
“But I would quite like the Duke of Edinburgh, Donald Trump, the Prime Minister, anyone funny really.
“Older comedians are much funnier than young comedians, they are much less thrown by being asked something.”
On her brave bunch of famous contestants, she added: “I have never seen Love Island so I think that will be quite interesting.
“I always think Giles Coren is someone who doesn’t need a grandmother because he always feels so good about himself anyway, and I am a complete Holby addict, so I hope that Chizzy will explain to me how to do a heart transplant while she is here.
“We’ve all got a great nostalgia for this show. Almost everyone working on it was working on it through the years, everyone was really keen to come back and give it another go.”
The former journalist also commented on the shift in television shows in the years since she was last in the Weakest Link studio, which has seen an explosion of reality and competition shows that often result in contestants reduced to tears by tough challenges.
“I always think crying is very suspect, particularly among girls,” Robinson said. “Some of them learn very young that if you cry when you are criticised, then everyone says ‘Oh don’t cry,’ and they forget what they are about to criticise you for.
“So I’m not much taken with tears, they waste time. I get very irritated, I don’t want anyone crying.
“(On the Weakest Link) You don’t want to drown kittens, what you’re always looking for is someone you can play with, who comes back to you. So it’s not really a question of being mean, it’s a question of having a laugh and you’re foraging, really, until you come up with something.”
But she joked that she almost got emotional herself as she reacclimatised herself to the studio, which she claimed had been borrowed from the programme’s French counterpart and was slightly too high for her to manage comfortably in her 6in heels.
Robinson has recently made headlines following interviews about her personal life and her appearance on documentary Britain’s Relationship Secrets where she joined the dating app Tinder.
“I didn’t know what it was and I did it to be filmed,” she insisted.
“I am not on Tinder. I am not that desperate. I have nothing against Tinder except all the men look incredibly ugly.”
On her preferred method of meeting men, she said: “I just put myself about. I take a briefcase to a cocktail bar and look as if I’m coming home from work. When was the last date I went on? I’ve just had a riotous weekend.”
:: Children In Need airs on BBC One at 7.30pm on Friday.
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