Anne Hegerty has been replaced for the new series of Beat the Chasers - and he's been bragging about 'overtaking' her.
The Chasers are joining forces once again to form a terrifying super group to take on individual contestants, but one of their most important members won't be taking party.
The Governess has been a staple on the show for years, terrorising players with her sarcastic put downs and cold reactions.
However, Anne, who is also nicknamed 'Frosty Knickers' by presenter Bradley Walsh, was forced to step aside and did not take part in the spin-off show, which starts again tonight on ITV.
Unfortunately, Anne caught Covid just before filming began and was replaced by a star from the Australian version of The Chase - Issa Schultz
"Unfortunately I’ve contracted Covid-19 so won’t be filming this series of #BeatTheChasers.," she tweeted.
"The fantastic @Issa25 will be stepping in for me and I’m looking forward to watching the series when it’s on air later this year. I feel fine, but I’m still positive! (in all respects)."
So who is the man from Down Under?
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The 38-year-old was born in Cornwall, but his family moved to Australia in 1995 and settled in Tewantin, Queensland.
Issa, whose name means Jesus in Arabic, was named after a best friend of his parents from when they lived in Qatar in the 1970s.
He is an eight-time winner of the Australian Quizzing Championships and has also been the Pairs champion on seven occasions.
Issa placed 23rd in the World Quizzing Championships in 2020, won $200,000 on The Rich List in 2009 and has also appeared on The Einstein Factor, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire and Hell's Kitchen Australia.
But he is best known for being a Chaser on the Aussie version of The Chase, where he was given the nickname 'The Supernerd'.
After getting the call to step into The Governess’s "cold and chilly shoes", Issa dropped everything to fly from Brisbane to the UK at the last-minute.
He told The Sun : "What a delight. It was close to 1am Brisbane time - I’m a night owl and my Australian boss said to the UK bosses: ‘Just call him, he’ll be up.’ And then I was on the plane, I think it was close to 9am that very morning. As they say, the show must go on! I’d be foolish not to do it."
Issa actually has a close connection with Anne as they have been colleagues on the Australian version of The Chase for seven years.
The experienced Chaser said: "My fellow chasers were lovely and so welcoming. Anne was so supportive - she said: ‘Go for it Issa, I know you can do this'."
The new kid on the block has spoken about the competitive nature of the show - saying Chasers want to win and be first.
He feels "pretty confident" about how he compares to the rest of the UK Chasers, but admits it's like going from a big fish in a small bond to a small fish in "a pacific ocean".
Although he has given a warning to Anne about 'overtaking' her as a quiz champion, so she had better watch out.
He added: "Paul is good and I’m pretty sure most of the time is better than I am. Anne, I’ve started to overtake in the world rankings. As much as I want to be world number one, it may happen, it may not, it’ll keep me interested for many years to come."
Darragh Ennis, who is the newest Chaser after joining in 2020, said he was having breakfast when Issa landed in the UK and he jumped straight into filming.
The rest of the Chasers have no worries about him letting them down because of his pedigree in the quizzing world.
SAnd speaking to RadioTimes.com, Issa stated that he would love to become a permanent member of the UK Chase team.
He explained: "I'd love to explore that Bradley bond. A lot of the success is that Chaser-Bradley bond. He has a unique relationship with every Chaser on that set. I would love to develop my own.
"And I think it would bring something different because even though I'm British born, I haven't lived here for over 25 years so there's that sort of angle of, you know, 'Well, he might be good at the Aussie stuff, but the contestants may have the advantage here,' there's a different sort of element I think that I bring.
"And my character is different – I'm the Super Nerd," he continued. "I'm very nerdy – I mean, we're all nerdy but I'm particularly nerdy. I like my video games. I love the quizzing obviously, my books and reading and don't go out much... so yeah, if they asked I'd definitely say yes, I'd be silly not to."
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