Anne Hegarty's biggest fan meets his idol on This Morning

The Chase star and witty quiz master, Anne Hegarty, won the hearts of the nation during her time in the I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! jungle.

We had moments where we just wanted to climb through our TV's and give her a hug.

Her fellow campmates were there for her, particularly during the first week, which she found particularly difficult, as she spoke openly about her autism.

People took to social media to thank and praise her for speaking openly and honestly about the development disorder.

We had over 800 of our supporters fill in our book to @anne_hegerty - with over 130 pages for @anne_hegerty to enjoy! Thanks to each and every one of you! 💜 #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/oovDecztKV

— National Autistic Society (@Autism) December 12, 2018

One little boy, in particular, who was in awe of Anne and wrote her a letter.

11-year-old Joseph Hughes from Preston wrote Anne a heartfelt letter about their shared experience of autism which received thousands of shares online.

Joseph, who was diagnosed with autism at the age of five, “has quite a few struggles, especially socially, but he’s a lovely little boy”, according to his mother.

Ms Jarvis said Joseph was “amazed” at seeing Hegerty, who has Asperger’s syndrome, as The Governess on ITV gameshow The Chase.

Joseph wrote a letter for Anne Hegerty :)#AnneHegerty #theChase #ImACeleb pic.twitter.com/NdXQVG7QfZ

— Kate Jarvis (@apparentlymad) November 19, 2018

“He sees his autism quite negatively sometimes, so was pleased to see someone with autism doing something like that for a job,” she told the Press Association.

In the letter to Hegerty, Joseph wrote: “I think you are very brave for going in the jungle, I couldn’t go there because there are too many bugs.

“You are very clever,” he added, before saying: “Some people are mean to me because I am autistic but watching you makes me see that other people can have autism too and maybe I can have a cool job like you when I am older.”

Joseph joined Anne on the This Morning couch today and was delighted to meet his idol.

I’m A Celebrity star @anne_hegerty meets superfan Joseph who wrote her a heartfelt letter about his experiences of autism pic.twitter.com/dVaKMCaKFY

— This Morning (@thismorning) December 13, 2018

Meeting Joseph, Anne said:

It's lovely to meet you, Joseph, I was saying as soon as I saw the letter, I thought, I would like to write back to this kid or meet this kid.

She spoke to him about Thunderbirds and enlightened everyone in the studio with a couple of facts, in true Anne Hegarty fashion.

We love the awareness that Anne has created around autism throughout her journey in the jungle and since leaving.