The Chase in huge format shake up as ITV show celebrates 15th anniversary
THE CHASE has undergone a huge shake-up to its regular three-round format in honour of the ITV show’s 15th anniversary.
Host Bradley Walsh introduced the changes at the beginning of Monday night’s show.
He revealed that contests would be facing multiple chasers in a shock change to the usual format.
“These four people have never met before, but today have the chance to win thousands of pounds. Today, two things are standing in their way; two Chasers,” Bradley began.
He continued: “The Chase: Double Trouble is on.”
“This year The Chase is 15 years old, yes 15! And that means that’s over 2,500 teams taking on our Chasers in the hope of winning thousands of pounds.
“So to celebrate our birthday, we will be playing The Chase: Double Trouble. Can this team beat two Chasers?”
Monday (September 2) night’s special anniversary episode saw contestants Paul, Anne, Jenny and Darragh – who coincidentally share the same first names as several of the infamous chasers – try their luck against not one but two chasers.
They were in with a chance of any two out of The Dark Destroyer, The Vixen, The Menace, The Beast, The Governess, or The Sinnerman.
Shaun Wallace, aka The Dark Destroyer, ended up being the first Chaser to face the group.
After he mocked host Bradley mercilessly with a funny personalised poem to mark the show’s anniversary, the Chase got underway.
Contestant Paul was the first to face off against Shaun. But living up to its promise of double trouble, The Chase brought out Mark Labbett, aka The Beast, to chase the contestant Anne next.
Following contestants, Jenny and Darragh followed the same pattern with the former starring Shaun down and the latter facing Mark.
In a happy turn of events, all four contestants made it back home safely with a prize fund of £17,000, going into the final chase.
“It’s nice to have a full house on our anniversary episode,” said a pleased Bradley.
“Now they’ll either be facing The Beast or The Dark Destroyer in the final.
The Chase: Current lineup of Chasers on the ITV show
The Chase first premiered on ITV back in 2009 and has become a firm favourite among viewers since then. The roster of professional quizzers ('chasers') has grown significantly since the show's launch.
- Mark Labbett (2009 – present): Known as ‘The Beast’, Mark is a former Maths teacher and previously won £32,000 on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Mark has also reprised his role as a Chaser in the US and Australian versions of the show.
- Shaun Wallace (2009 – present): Shaun, a barrister and former Mastermind champion, goes by the ‘Dark Destroyer’. Shaun has appeared on the Australian version of The Chase. In 2008, he finished as runner-up to Barry Simmons in Are You an Egghead?, a contest to find a new member of the then-BBC quiz team.
- Anne Hegerty (2010 – present): A former contestant on Mastermind, Fifteen To One and Are You an Egghead?, Anne goes by ‘The Governess’. Since joining The Chase, she appeared on I’m A Celebrity… in 2018.
- Paul Sinha (2011-present): Comedian and qualified doctor Paul joined the Chaser line-up in 2011, taking the nickname ‘The Sinnerman’. He has appeared on The Weakest Link, University Challenge and Brain of Britain. In 2018, Paul starred in series 8 of popular game show Taskmaster.
- Jenny Ryan (2015 – present): Known as ‘The Vixen’, Jenny was previously in a winning team on Only Connect. She also appeared in Mastermind, The Weakest Link and Fifteen To One before joining The Chase in 2015.
- Darragh Ennis (2020 – present): A postdoctoral researcher, Darragh joined The Chase in 2020 as ‘The Menace’. He is the first former contestant to join the line-up, having been part of a winning team against Paul Sinha in 2017.
He then explained that for the Final Chase, the contestants were given the option of two sets of questions “A” or “B” to choose from. They chose set “B” while the Chaser was given set “A.”
“Now to choose the Chase for the Final Chase, my team had to draw from a hat.”
They ended up drawing Mark’s name, which meant they bid goodbye to Shaun for the evening.
Because everyone made it into the final round, the team got a four-step head-start, which proved very useful against Mark.
They also managed to push the Chaser back enough to claim their prize money of £4,250 each.
ITV star Jenny Ryan, aka The Vixen, previously teased the “intriguing” changes to the format and noted that it was a big deal for the show to have such a shake-up.
“Whilst we don’t like to make any huge changes to the format because it’s such a mainstay of people’s days, we’ve made a big tweak to this one as a one off,” she said during an interview with virginradio.co.uk.
And, while Jenny confirmed the Double Trouble format was just a one off for the anniversary, it may return again in the future.
“I’m really intrigued to see how people respond because, you know, we might do it again if people really like it!” she teased.
The Chase airs weeknights at 5pm and is available to stream on ITVX.