Image caption Robinson: You are the weakest link, goodbye.

Weakest Link host Anne Robinson has quit the TV quiz show, the BBC has confirmed.

Robinson, nicknamed "the queen of mean" for her acerbic put-downs, has been the host for 11 years, and the quiz will end in spring 2012 after 1,690 shows.

"It's been superb, so it's a hard decision," she told the Guardian. There have been more than 15,000 contestants and more than 235,000 questions asked.

She will continue to appear on Watchdog and My Life in Books on the BBC.

"If there's anything about longevity in television, it's about knowing what to take and what to turn down, and what to stop. It's often about what not to do any more," she said.

I remember seeing the pilot episode and not being at all convinced she was right for the show. Liam Keelan, Controller of BBC Daytime BBC TV Blog

In an interview in the Guardian, she dismissed reports about her contract: "My fee wasn't cut. I said I'd do 10 years and then, because we went to [BBC] Scotland and they were brilliant, I did a year more than I intended to do."

She was known for her catchphrase - "You are the weakest link, goodbye" - said to each contestant as they were voted off after each round.

Liam Keelan, controller of BBC Daytime, said: "The Weakest Link has been a hugely important and much-loved part of the BBC's schedules for well over a decade.

"But without Anne's iconic persona and acerbic wit, we have decided that we won't be recommissioning any new episodes following her departure."

Special episodes of the show will be filmed in Glasgow in December and the final series will go off air next spring.