South Africa’s Weakest Link quizmaster, Fiona Coyne, has died at her home in Cape Town, police said on Wednesday.
“Yes, I can confirm that,” said Captain Stephen Knap.
He was on the scene at a property in Fish Hoek and could not immediately provide further details.
Kee-Leen Irvine, producer of the television game show, said she was shocked by the news.
She said Coyne had not died in a car accident as was earlier reported.
“She died at her home in Cape Town and the police have opened an inquest docket. However no foul play is suspected.
“Fiona was a close friend and loved by so many people. This is a huge loss for all of us,” she wrote in an email.
Coyne, born in Springs in 1965, trained as an actor and was part of the Capab drama group for seven years, according to Who’s Who Southern Africa.
In an interview with SA Career Focus magazine in 2008 she told how she had worked at a sanctuary for elephants and rhinos in Kenya for four years and then went on to coach and lecture in the corporate arena.
She published a book Who Moved My Ladder? The Working Woman’s Guide to Success and worked as a personal branding consultant and communications specialist.
In the Weakest Link, Coyne was styled in the image of Anne Robinson who hosted the British version of the show, dressed in black with a steady repertoire of stinging comments directed at contestants.
It was syndicated to many countries including the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, India and Mexico, according to Rapid Blue, the production company who did the show in South Africa.
Last year Coyne appeared in the Janice Honeyman pantomine The Adventures of Pinocchio as Katarina the Cat.
Sharon Kruyer of her agent, Famous Faces, said she was “devastated”. — Sapa