The Chase: How Anne Hegerty lost 6kg and started dating again

"The Governess" has shared how she lost weight and kept it off. Photo / Getty Images

The Chase star Anne Hegerty has revealed how she achieved significant weight loss - and found the confidence to start dating again.

Hegerty, 61, has won legions of fans as "The Governess" on The Chase and from her time on I'm a Celebrity .... Get Me Out of Here.

And it was thanks to her stint on the latter that she was able to kick start a new diet.

The show's challenges involved competing for food and, according to The Sun, several contestants lost weight in the process.

"What the celebs are eating is very healthy," a source told The Sun. "From veg to meat protein and fish and that is absorbed quickly by the body. The weight loss doesn't do any permanent damage, and most pile it back on within three weeks, especially in the build up to Christmas."

But this wasn't the case for Hegerty. She lost 6kg and has managed to keep the weight off. Most recently, she's stunned on the red carpet in a flattering teal dress, cinched at the waist.

Hegerty claims her digestive system has recently refused to accept any more rice. Photo / Getty Images

The diet imposed by her time on the show has had a lasting impact on her digestive system and she's flagged two things in particular that she no longer eats.

Appearing on the UK's This Morning, she told hosts Phillip Schofield and Rochelle Humeson that she believes the lack of salt in her diet on Get Me Out of Here helped to kick off her weight loss.

And she said her digestive system has recently refused to accept any more rice.

"I can have beans, I can have rice and beans but I am having no more rice because it is just going straight through.

"So since then I've not had rice by itself. It just went straight through me."

But her weight loss has helped her feel confident enough to start dating again.

She told The Sun, "It took years of psychotherapy before I even considered dating.

"I lost weight, replaced my glasses with contact lenses and felt a lot more confident. But I find it really hard to hold down a relationship."

Hegerty, 46, has previously opened up about her private life, detailing past relationship struggles and admitting "sex was always better in my head".

In another candid interview with The Sun, Hegerty reflected on a short-lived romance she had with a fellow Mastermind Club member, and said it took "years" before she felt ready to try dating but doubts she'll ever manage to "make it work".