Popular The Chase star Anne Hegerty (also known as The Governess) has revealed a huge show secret she is "not supposed to share".

For those who regularly tune in to watch competitors go toe-to-toe with the chasers every evening, they may be wondering how the money won by participants is decided by showrunners.

Ahead of their clash with the chaser, competitors accumulate money by correctly answering questions during the 'cash builder'.

This is then brought to the table by Bradley Walsh before the chaser offers cash amounts for the contestant either taking a step closer to them or one further away.

Those opting to take a step closer to home are given lower amounts while those opting to take a risk by being closer to the chaser are awarded with bigger sums.

The amount can be as high as £201,000 with low offers sometimes being in the minus, meaning the team would lose money towards their overall prize if that person makes it home safely.

Anne Hegerty shares big secret about cash prizes on The Chase

Many assume the cash prize is decided by the chasers themselves but Anne Hegerty refuted this, telling The Metro: "I’m probably not supposed to tell you, so I’m telling you, it’s actually the producers. The message gets passed down to the floor, and that’s how we know what the offer is.

"We don’t actually make it up ourselves, but we have to pretend that we did!"

The Chase star added that she's not afraid of the big money offers, sharing that "it’s not my money".

"The producers say to us “We wouldn’t let you offer it if we didn’t think you’d got it”. My job is just to listen and answer as fast as I can," she said.

"I worry less about the money, and more about looking like an idiot."

"If I lose a game then I put myself under a little more pressure to not lose the next one, even though the producers tell me that they don’t mind. They say: “We need losses. You’ve been winning too many.” Even so, I don’t like losing. None of us like losing."