All the things you never knew about The Chase
It’s the nation’s favourite quiz show for a reason
ITV’s The Chase has been a big part of all our lives for a long time now and is a huge part of many people’s daily viewing schedule.
The Chase, that is hosted by the one and only Bradley Walsh, sees a group of quiz-loving contestants face off against six champions: Anne ‘The Governess’ Hegerty, Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett, Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace, Paul ‘The Sinnerman’ Sinha, Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan and Darragh Ennis ‘The Menance’.
It's no wonder the show pulls in over 3 million viewers an episode! Here, we take a trip behind the scenes to discover secrets you may not have known about everyone’s favourite daytime show…
Check out all the things you never knew about The Chase:
The Chasers are the best of friends
Despite their rivalry throughout the show, Anne 'The Governess' Hegerty, Mark 'The Beast' Labbett, Shaun 'The Dark Destroyer' Wallace, Paul 'The Sinnerman' Sinha and Jenny 'The Vixen' Ryan are all good friends outside of the show and regularly hang out.
Jenny and Anne even quiz together on Monday nights!
Bradley Walsh can film up to three shows a day
There has been thousands of episodes of The Chase, and show host Bradley has hosted every single one. Filming for the show now has a quick turnaround, and only takes around two hours, with 12 episodes recorded over a period of four days.
Before The Chase, The Chasers all had pretty normal (but intellectual) real-life jobs
Mark used to be a Maths teacher (he is a mathematician after all), Anne was a proof reader, Paul is a stand-up comedian, Jenny is a writer, Shaun is still a criminal barrister and newest Chaser Darragh Ennis was a former contestant!
The Chase has been running for 12 years!
The first episode aired on 29th June 2009.
Contestants are completely unaware of which Chaser they are facing.
Bradley has no clue either.
Over the years, hundreds of thousands of questions have been asked.
The Chase has a team of around eight question writers from all sorts of backgrounds, including Olav Bjortomt, the number one quizzer in the world!
Bradley Walsh doesn't see the questions beforehand either, saying: "The second the contestant sees the question, that's when I see the question."
The Chase airs in nine countries
There are nine international versions of The Chase, with shows airing in Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and the United States.
Some of the shows also feature familiar faces, as both Mark Labbett (The Beast) and Anne Hegerty (The Governess) both appear on the Australian version. Mark Labbett also stars on the United States version.
The Chasers all give 100% and get annoyed when they lose
The Chasers are officially the most competitive people in the world. Facts. They're not a fan of losing, even when the contestants (who are sometimes celebrities) are playing for charity.
Contestants do beat The Chasers, though! In September 2021, 20-year-old Eden took home a whopping £75k after beating Darragh Ennis. He won the biggest amount of prize money ever won on daytime TV show by a solo player. Impressive.
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