Anne Robinson says she's 'retired' from TV after Countdown 'swansong'

Anne Robinson has said she is now retired from TV and that her presenting role on Countdown was her "swansong".

The former Weakest Link host announced this week that she would be leaving Countdown after a year in the role and has now said she thinks she has retired.

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Robinson, 77, told The Telegraph of Countdown: "It was great fun and I loved it for a year, but not for another year."

Admitting that she "doesn't need the money", she explained: "I just thought: 'You don’t have to do this. And maybe you’ve now done enough.'"

Asked whether she meant enough of the show, or of TV she replied: "Of TV. I think I’ve done it, actually. I thought it was a nice swansong. I suppose I am, yeah, retired."

The presenter's time on Countdown was plagued by rumours that she had not got on with co-stars Rachel Riley and Susie Dent, but she said that she thought they were good at their jobs and simply didn't feel the need to develop a friendship as long as the show was working well.

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Robinson said that Dictionary Corner star Dent had emailed her asking her to lunch when she started on the quiz show, but turned her down because "it’s just not me".

She also added that she had not considered a leaving party because she didn't like the thought of "a lot of people who can’t stand you are having to raise a glass".

Meanwhile, Riley has posted a photo of herself smiling with a glass of wine on Instagram, captioned: "Drinking a toast to the next chapter in Countdown's history… I think you're going to like it!"

Earlier this week, it emerged that Robinson has been asked to return for the reboot of The Weakest Link but had turned it down, with the job going to comedian Romesh Ranganathan.

She explained that she didn't like the prospect of not being able to use her notoriously cutting remarks to contestants because of a change in tone of how TV programmes were made.

In her Telegraph interview, she said that during her time on Countdown she had ensured only big name guests were booked for Dictionary Corner and had made producers meet potential contestants on Zoom to judge how funny they were out of five, telling them "I don’t want any twos out of five".

Watch: Anne Robinson 'delighted' The Weakest Link is returning to TV