The Chase Australia’s “Tiger Mum” Cheryl Toh might be a well-known quiz whiz, but it seems she has another talent that she’s keen to put on display.
The 44-year-old, who is a lawyer for an agricultural business when she’s not busy being a Chaser, seems to enjoy putting her dancing shoes on.
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In a recent interview with Woman’s Day, Cheryl was asked about some of her co-stars including “The Supernerd” Issa Schultz.
Last year, Issa won the hearts of Australians after appearing on Dancing with the Stars, and it seems he might have got Cheryl thinking.
“Issa did spectacularly well on Dancing With The Stars,” she said.
“And apart from trivia, dancing is probably my favourite hobby – I do Zumba every week!”
Asked if she’d ever thought of nudging Seven Network’s TV producers for a shot at the coveted Mirrorball Trophy, however, she demurred.
“No!” she said, adding: “But I really love dancing.”
“When you do it at the gym, you’re in your comfy sneakers,” she added.
“I’m not sure I can manage those stiletto heels.”
Toh has kept her private life just that over the years, but the Chase favourite opened up a little about her personal world to Woman’s Day.
While describing herself as a “pretty average lady,” others might beg to differ.
Married for 20 years to her engineer husband Jason, 47, Toh’s day job is as a lawyer for an agricultural business.
She had Issa to thank for landing a role on The Chase Australia, a side-gig she’s now had since 2019.
They’d known each other on the quiz circuit — Toh’s previous TV appearance had been on a show called The Einstein Factor in 2007, where her special subject was Agatha Christie’s Poirot.
She also appeared on Million Dollar Minute, winning $75,000 on the show in 2015.
“I’ve been friends for more than 10 years with Issa, and when (The Chase) first launched they had Anne Hegerty, who’s just wonderful, and then the producers decided, ‘well, what about some Australian female talent?’,” she explained.
“So they put the word out. Issa recommended a couple of friends, and then we all auditioned.”
Toh got the gig, becoming part of a tight-knit team.
And while her husband might not be that much of a trivia buff, her daughter is super-proud that Toh stars on The Chase for one special reason.
“It means a lot to her and to me that Asian Australian women are represented in the mainstream media because when I was growing up, I didn’t see anyone who looked like me on TV unless I watched a late night SBS movie,” she said.
“And so it’s meaningful for us to have some representation in a small way.”
A real ‘Tiger Mum’
As for the Tiger Mum moniker — is Toh a real-life Tiger Mum with her own kids?
The answer is a definite yes.
“A Tiger Mum is caring, strict and demonstrates a lot of tough love — quite big on discipline and structure,” she said.
“Good grades are the minimum, but we also encourage them to excel in sports and music as much as they can.”
“It’s just about ensuring they make the most of their opportunities,” she added — something that could equally be applied to Toh herself.
And while Issa was a hit on Dancing with the Stars last year, Toh isn’t the only other Chaser who has been asked about following in his footsteps.
The day after the 2023 Logies, Issa, Toh and fellow Chaser Matt Parkinson appeared on The Morning Show, where they were quizzed by Kylie Gillies and The Chase host Larry Emdur.
This time around it was Parkinson who was asked how he’d go on Dancing with the Stars.
“Look, people have been lobbying me about this, but the thing about me is that it takes the message from my brain about three days to get to my feet,” he joked.
“So it would have to be a much longer episode to have me in it.”
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