Carol blames 'Countdown' for weight gain

Carol Vorderman has revealed that the stress of quitting Countdown has made her gain nearly a stone in weight.

The mathematician said: "I have had a re-tox year. When I get stressed, I don’t sleep well and then I get tired. And when I get tired I find myself shovelling food in my mouth just to keep myself awake."

"I realised I was putting on weight when I found my dresses were a bit tighter. I was trying to blame the zips when I had difficulty putting them on, but the zips weren’t to blame," she told Reveal.

The 47-year-old star said she will lose the extra pounds by Christmas, when she is due to bow out of the long-running quiz show.

The star said that she resigned after she was unable to come to a pay agreement with Channel 4 bosses. Vorderman had been with the show since it started in 1982, when she was 21 years old.