Victoria Coren Mitchell, 50, admits she revels being branded a ‘weird crush’ by fans

She has a hugely successful TV career, but Only Connect host Victoria Coren Mitchell remains refreshingly vanity-free when it comes to her looks.

The TV personality, who is married to actor and comedian David Mitchell, has admitted that she revels in her status as a ‘weird crush’.

She told The Daily Mail’s Alison Boshoff: ‘Mostly I get copied into messages on the internet where people are saying ‘You’ll think I’ve gone mad, but I quite fancy her #WeirdCrush.’ I also get: ”Is it just me, or is she a bit attractive?”

She added: ‘My husband gets the same kind of thing. As if it’s totally off the wall to find us anything other than revolting.

‘I quite appreciate that, though. I never wanted to be mainstream. I like being niche.’

In this, she is like her show, which she describes as ‘its own strange little self’. Only Connect, which this week started its 18th series, has gone from being a niche quiz show on BBC Four to being a niche, super-difficult quiz show on BBC Two.

It’s still a long way from Mastermind (48 series) or University Challenge (51) but is now in the same ballpark as Eggheads (20) and Pointless (27), and has equally devoted fans.

Insight: The presenter admitted she ‘quite appreciates’ the title of ‘weird crush’ given by some fans, speaking ahead of Only Connect’s 18th series

Coren Mitchell reflected that she had ‘no expectations at all’ when starting out.

She revealed: ‘I just thought it was a great quiz, and it was made in Cardiff by the company who invented televised poker. So I thought it would be fun to go there and try this experiment with them.

‘It was for BBC Four, so I knew it would be intelligent — and if it wasn’t, chances are nobody would see it anyway. 

‘The main thing that surprises me now is that we’re on a much bigger channel, with literally millions of viewers, but nobody has tried to interfere with it.

‘Only Connect remains its strange little self, and they just let the audience find us. I’m incredibly grateful for that.’

Views: Victoria (pictured while hosting Have I Got News For You) reflected that she had ‘no expectations at all’ when starting out on Only Connect

She went on: ‘Our contestants are wonderful, the absolute best of British. They come along to play, with no prizes available, for the sheer love of knowledge and puzzling and competition.’

She described the show as ‘British to its core’, reckoning that to really get it, ‘you need to have a culture as vast and eclectic as ours, a language as flexible as ours, a sense of humour as quirky as ours, and a population as brilliant and curious and puzzly as ours’.

‘Then again, if it ever got made in Dutch or Japanese I think I’d get some money out of it, which would be nice,’ she quipped. ‘So let’s say yes, a foreign version could only be better.’

This series is particularly special, as it is dedicated to the memory of executive producer Chris Stuart, who launched the series in 2008 and died earlier this year.

‘He was an amazing and inspiring man, and I loved him very much,’ Victoria said. ‘I’m frightened of carrying on without him.’

Funny: She described the show as ‘British to its core’, reckoning that to really get it, ‘you need to have a culture as vast and eclectic as ours, a language as flexible as ours’