91Èȱ¬

8 March 2019

Move over Armstrong and Osman! Savvy broadcasters are increasingly turning to the disarming authority of women to oversee our favourite quizzes. The new quiz show Wonderball, for example, is hosted by Catriona Shearer — better known before now as an evening news anchor.

So do women make better quiz show hosts? Here are 7 with very different styles to help you make up your mind...

Formerly a successful professional tennis player, Sue Barker became a commentator and sports reporter before eventually landing top job of anchoring Wimbledon for the 91Èȱ¬.

But for many she is best-loved as the matriarch in charge of the naughty schoolboys on Question of Sport, which holds the record for being the UK game show in regular production over the longest continuous period.

Clearly our Sue is doing something right.

As the daughter of a famous Danish journalist, Sandi Toksvig has always been fascinated by information.

In presenting terms, is there a challenge yet Sandi Toksvig has not met?

She has successfully filled the positions of not one but two legendary presenting jobs. First, she bravely took the baton of QI host from fellow national treasure Stephen Fry. And then she helped fill the hole left by Mel & Sue on The Great British Bake Off when it moved to Channel Four.

A self-confessed nerd, Victoria Coren Mitchell was practically outraged when first asked to be the host of a new quiz show pilot called ‘Only Connect’. She told the Radio Times, “I don’t want to host a quiz; I’m an intellectual!”

But it turned out to be a perfect fit for her.

“Of course, I did the pilot and was absolutely hooked immediately. I loved it. When it went to a series, I was scratching at the door to be let in.”

Sharon Carpenter is the friendly, girl-next-door host for the free mobile trivia app HQ Trivia, which live-streams 15-minute quiz shows throughout the week to millions of viewers, with a pot of money available to split between winners.

Sharon, who also reports for The Wendy Williams Show in the US, thinks HQ Trivia is “the future of television; it’s the future of broadcasting”.

She has been described as a ‘cult figure’ by NME and the Huffington Post.

Catriona is best known in Scotland for waking up the nation: the face of Scotland’s Breakfast TV bulletins. She also anchors the flagship news programme Reporting Scotland on a regular basis.

She admires the quiz presenting talents of Sue Barker and Victoria Coren-Mitchell (and has a soft spot for Bradley Walsh) and grew up watching Blockbusters, Mastermind and Nevermind the Buzzcocks.

How will she enjoy ruling over the new quiz show Wonderball?

The Weakest Link has been seen in 60 countries around the world.

For 12 years, Anne Robinson completely upended the standard friendly quiz host persona, invented her own scathing style – openly mocking her own contestants – and earned herself the nickname ‘Queen of Mean’.

Robinson was hired as the first young female trainee journalist on the Daily Mail in 1967 and developed her acerbic style in a column for the Daily Mirror called ‘Wednesday Witch’.

Scottish comedian Susan Calman won hearts across the nation in 2017 when she came 7th in the 15th series of Strictly Come Dancing.

Like her fellow quizzing queens, as well as her hosting capabilities Susan is one seriously smart cookie. The daughter of Sir Kenneth Calman, a doctor and chancellor of the University of Glasgow, she studied law, gained a scholarship and became a corporate lawyer before giving it up to become a stand-up comedian. She landed the host job on 91Èȱ¬ One daytime quiz The Boss in 2017.