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Romesh Ranganathan admits he finds it ‘unbearable’ to watch himself on TV

Comedian is the new host of the hit quiz series ‘The Weakest Link’

Sam Moore
Tuesday 11 January 2022 09:04 GMT
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Crowd shout and cheer as woman is removed from audience at Romesh Ranganathan gig

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Romesh Ranganathan has said that he finds it “unbearable” to watch himself on TV.

The popular comedian is the new host of The Weakest Link, having replaced Anne Robinson in the newly rebooted series.

Appearing on The One Show to promote the quiz show, Ranganathan said: “All I ever see is what I did wrong, I think I look smug and I hate what I’m doing. I just can’t stand it, so I only ever watch anything when I have to for the edit – but otherwise I can’t bring myself to watch it.”

Ranganathan also admitted that he “wasn’t sure” about accepting the role, commenting: “I wasn’t sure about doing it all really. I had never seen myself as a quiz show host, I didn’t think that was one of the things that I would end up doing so when we talked about it I just wasn’t entirely sure if it was right for me.”

He added: “They said to me, we just want you to be yourself and play it how I would play it. I didn’t want to be something I am not and I didn’t want to change to this shiny floor quiz host so I thought I would just be myself.”

Ranganathan, who also appears on the sports-themed gameshow A League of Their Own, said he was most nervous about asking the questions.

“You ask so many questions in The Weakest Link so that was one of the things I was most nervous about,” he said.

Romesh Ranganathan
Romesh Ranganathan (David Fisher/Shutterstock for BAFTA)

“I was worried about reading the questions and reading them properly so I got sample questions and started reading them to my kids.”

Having premiered last December, the new iteration of the long-running quiz show features eight celebrities competing each week to win £50,000 for charity.

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