The dark side of Nova’s Kate Ritchie

FOR years we’ve been tricked into believing Kate Ritchie is as sweet as honey. But we’re starting to realise she has a dark side.

YOU’VE been fooled Australia.

For more than 25 years, we’ve all been tricked into believing that Kate Ritchie is as sweet as honey.

But as a growing number of Nova listeners are starting to realise, the TV turned radio star has a dark side.

“I think she had the reputation of being the girl-next-door when she was on Home and Away,” said Marty Sheargold, who co-hosts Nova’s drive show alongside Ritchie and Tim Blackwell, “And my experience is, that’s true if the girl-next-door’s MENTAL”.

The star’s true nature shines through for just a few minutes each week on the popular drivetime radio show when Ritchie battles against different celebrities in a game called Quick Draw.

If you’ve never heard it, the game consists of seven rapid fire questions along the lines of, “Name a band starting with ‘H’” or “Name something you’d find in a kitchen starting with ‘R’”.

As soon as the game starts, Ritchie’s demeanour immediately changes from pleasant and friendly to aggressive and hostile.

“I don’t know what happens when I play,” Ritchie confessed to news.com.au, “It’s like this other person emerges”.

Nova’s national drive team: Tim Blackwell, Kate Ritchie and Marty Sheargold.

One male comedian, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retribution, described the former soap star as “a goddamn psychopath who is intent on winning at all costs”.

In fact, Ritchie’s behaviour during Quick Draw is so at odds with her positive public persona that she’s often too embarrassed to listen back to the show’s podcast.

“I have listened back before and I try to counsel myself and think that next week I’ll go in with a certain discipline or a certain way that I don’t want to sound,” she said.

“But then my alter ego emerges and I have no control over it.”

So far this year, Ritchie’s played 27 different celebrities and has a 65 per cent win rate, which is probably for the best according to co-host Tim Blackwell.

“She does not like to lose,” he said.

“But when she does, she’s very good at internalising her emotions. I have a feeling that Stuart (Ritchie’s husband, former league player Stuart Webb) cops a lot at home. That’s all I’ll say.”

If you’d like to play Quick Draw yourself, Kate, Tim and Marty have just turned the game into an app which is available to download now via the current Nova app on iTunes or Google

Play.