AN EMPLOYEE of the Hexham Courant inadvertently became a national talking point last week.

A re-run of an episode of TV quiz show, The Chase, originally shown in October 2016 and featuring Courant marketing solutions executive, Karen Watson, made national headlines.

The Daily Star and Daily Mirror ran articles about how Twitter users responded to Karen’s appearance, describing her as a ‘pink haired ageless siren’ when she revealed she was a 50-year-old mother of five.

Karen told of her shock about the national recognition her appearance on the ITV show caused.

She said: “What can I say? To be humiliated nationally once was bad enough but twice is too much.

“I was ironing and watching the Government’s briefing, and my phone kept pinging with messages from people telling me I was on again.

“Then to be told, I was on the Star and Mirror websites, not because you did well or you’re clever, but because you’ve got five kids and pink hair. The kids were mortified. There’s nothing better than hearing your mother being called an ‘ageless siren’ and a ‘hot mum’ is there?

“My parents, on the other hand, think it’s bloody hilarious that they are the parents of a stunning mum of five. You’d think nobody had ever seen anyone with pink hair?”

Karen was pitted against Chaser Paul Sinha and answered two questions correctly in one minute to take £2,000 through to the next round for the team to play for.

She impressed in the final round by answering nine questions right in two minutes as she and her teammates aimed to take home their share of £13,000. However, Mr Sinha was in no mood to send Karen and co. happy and he caught up to the team with 17 seconds remaining to send them all home empty handed.