The Chase

The Chase is a British television quiz show broadcast on ITV and hosted by Bradley Walsh. Contestants play against a professional quizzer, known as the "chaser", who attempts to prevent them from winning a cash prize. The chasers are Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha and Jenny Ryan. Labbett and Wallace have both been chasers since series 1, while Hegerty joined in series 2, Sinha in series 4 and Ryan in series 9. With rare exceptions for special episodes, only one chaser participates in any given episode.

A team of four contestants individually attempt to amass as much money as possible, which is later added to a prize fund if the contestant survives their individual chase. The chaser must attempt to catch each contestant during their individual chase, eliminating that person from the game and preventing the money from being added to the collective prize fund. In the individual chase, the player must choose between a higher offer, their earned money, and a lower offer. Later, in the final round, contestants who survived their individual chases play collectively as a team against the chaser for an equal share of the prize fund.

With a regular audience of three to five million, The Chase is one of ITV's most successful daytime shows ever. It has been nominated six times at the National Television Awards, winning in 2016, 2017, and 2019. It has also become a successful international franchise: regional versions have been made in Australia, China, Croatia, Finland, Germany, Israel, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, United States and Spain. Labbett, Hegerty and Wallace also feature as chasers on the Australian version. Labbett featured as the sole chaser on the now-defunct American version.

Cash Builder and Head-to-Head rounds
Each contestant individually attempts to build up the team's prize fund through two rounds. In the first round, known as the "Cash Builder", the contestant answers as many questions as they can within one minute, earning £1,000 per correct answer. After completing the Cash Builder, the contestant enters the "Head-to-Head" round, attempting to move the money down to the bottom of a seven-step board and into the team bank ("home") without being caught by the chaser. The board had eight steps in the first series.

The contestant chooses one of three starting positions on the board:


 * Three steps down from the top, giving a three-step head start and requiring five steps to reach home
 * Two steps down, with a two-step head start and requiring six steps to reach home, for a larger amount
 * Four steps down, with a four-step head start and requiring four steps to reach home, for a smaller amount

The smaller amount can be zero or even negative if the contestant has performed poorly in the Cash Builder. Once the starting position is chosen, the host asks a series of multiple-choice questions to the contestant and the chaser, both of whom secretly select one of the three answer options on keypads. After either person locks in a guess, the other must do so within five seconds or be locked out for that turn. A correct answer moves the person who gave it one step down the board, while a miss or lock-out leaves them where they are.

If the contestant successfully reaches home without being caught, they advance to the Final Chase and their money is added (or subtracted if they took a negative amount) to the team prize fund. If the chaser catches up, the contestant is eliminated and their money is forfeited. If all four contestants are caught by the chaser, they nominate one contestant to play the Final Chase alone.

In the celebrity editions, which are played to benefit charitable organisations named by the participants, the lowest offer is always £1,000. This amount is donated to each celebrity's chosen charity if they are all caught, or if they lose the Final Chase.

Final Chase
The contestants who win their head-to-head chases must work together in order to beat the chaser and win their prize fund. They choose one of two sets of questions for themselves, with the other set put aside for the chaser, and then have two minutes to answer as many questions as possible on the buzzer. If a contestant responds without buzzing-in, their answer is not accepted. The buzzer is not used if only one contestant is participating in the Final Chase. Every correct answer moves the team one step ahead of the chaser, and they are given a head start of one step per contestant playing in this round. The contestants may not discuss or confer on any questions during this portion of the round.

Once the team's time has expired, the chaser is given two minutes to answer questions from the unused set and catch the team, moving one step ahead per correct response. If the chaser passes or misses a question, the clock is briefly stopped and the team are given a chance to discuss it and respond; a correct answer pushes the chaser back one step, or (from series 3 onwards) moves the team ahead one step if the chaser is at the starting line.

If the chaser fails to catch up to the team before time runs out, the participating contestants split the prize fund equally; otherwise, they leave with nothing. If all four contestants have lost their head-to-head chases and the contestant they nominate wins the Final Chase, every contestant wins £1,000.

Filming
Three episodes are filmed in a day and each one takes around an hour and a half to film. According to Walsh, "It runs like clockwork." The Final Chase can be stopped and re-started if Walsh stumbles on a question. He told the Radio Times, "If there is a slight misread, I am stopped immediately – bang – by the lawyers. We have the compliance lawyers in the studio all the time. What you have to do is go back to the start of the question, literally on videotape where my mouth opens – or where it's closed from the previous question – and the question is re-asked. It is stopped to the split second."

Chasers

 * Mark Labbett (2009–present)—Appeared on Stake Out, Mastermind, University Challenge, Fifteen to One, The Syndicate and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?; runner-up on The People's Quiz, runner-up on Brain of Britain, part of a winning team on Only Connect, represented Wales from 2005–2007 at the European quiz championships. Nicknamed "The Beast", "Beastie Boy", "The Man Mountain of Maths", and "The Transatlantic Giant". Ranked 152nd in the World Quizzing Championships 2019. He was also the sole chaser on the U.S. version of the show and is one of five on the Australian version of the show.
 * Shaun Wallace (2009–present)—Appeared on Fifteen to One, Weakest Link, Beat the Nation, BrainTeaser, Greed, and The Waiting Game; winner of Mastermind, finalist on the first series of Are You an Egghead?. Nicknamed "The Dark Destroyer", "Grumpy Drawers", "The Barrister", "The Legal Eagle" and "The Mastermind Champ". Ranked 455th in the World Quizzing Championships 2014. He was also a guest chaser on the Australian version of the show in 2018.
 * Anne Hegerty (2010–present)—Appeared on Mastermind (twice), Fifteen to One, Today's the Day and Brain of Britain; semi-finalist on the second series of Are You an Egghead?. Ranked 18th in the UK quiz rankings (as of January 2018). Nicknamed "The Governess" and "Frosty Knickers". Ranked 122nd in the World Quizzing Championships 2019. She is also one of seven chasers on the Australian version of the show.
 * Paul Sinha (2011–present)—Appeared on Are You an Egghead?, Brain of Britain, Mastermind, University Challenge and The Weakest Link; ranked 6th in the national quiz rankings (as of January 2018). Nicknamed "The Sinnerman", "The Smiling Assassin" and "Sarcasm in a Suit". Ranked 11th in the World Quizzing Championships 2018. Sinha is also a doctor and stand-up comedian.
 * Jenny Ryan (2015–present) —Appeared on University Challenge, Mastermind, Are You an Egghead?, Fifteen to One, The Weakest Link, The X Factor and was part of a winning team on Only Connect. Nicknamed "The Vixen", "The Bolton Brainiac", "Bolton Bombshell" and "The Brainiac of Bolton". Ranked 175th in the World Quizzing Championships 2014.

Darragh Ennis

More info coming soon.

Spin-offs
A spin-off titled The Chase: Celebrity Special featuring celebrity teams as contestants began airing on ITV in 2011. As many contestants are comedians or actors, there is a much-higher comedic element. The game is played exactly the same way as the regular version. However, if all four celebrities have been caught by the chaser, the prize fund during the Final Chase is £20,000 (originally £4,000). If the team is caught during the Final Chase, a consolation prize of £1,000 is awarded to the charities for each celebrity who advanced to this stage.

In February 2017, ITV commissioned The Family Chase, a spin-off featuring a team of four family members. The six episode spin-off debuted on 2 September 2017. A second series of 8 episodes was commissioned and commenced airing on 24 March 2019.

In November 2019, ITV commissioned another spin-off called Beat The Chasers. It will air in prime-time in spring 2020 and feature contestants attempting to beat all 5 Chasers in order to win big cash prizes.

International broadcasts

 * 🇦🇺 – Episodes of the British version of The Chase air on weekday afternoons at 3:00pm on the Seven Network to good ratings. Seven also considered producing a local version, and filmed a pilot episode on the UK set, but decided not to proceed. However, in mid-2015 a local version was commissioned to replace Deal or No Deal and Million Dollar Minute in a bid to revive ratings for its struggling 6:00pm nightly news. Hegerty, Labbett and Wallace feature as three of the six chasers on the Australian version. They are currently airing series 8.
 * – Episodes of the British version of The Chase air on Monday to Saturday afternoons at 4:55pm on TVNZ 1, while The Celebrity Chase airs on Sunday afternoons at 4:55pm, providing the lead-in to the 6:00pm nightly news. Repeat episodes air on Monday to Friday mornings at 11:00 am. The show frequently ranks in the weekly top-20 most watched TV shows, drawing in an average of 1.3 million viewers per week., they are currently airing series 11.

Critical reception
The Chase is highly popular with critics and viewers. Despite early criticism, opinion has improved over time. Some critics, as well as the chasers, put the show's success down to Walsh as host and his many memorable moments, some of which come from questions or answers which often leave him in hysterics. Labbett also said that the sense of fun and the variety of chasers is a major factor. Sinha said, "The format has been brilliantly thought out. No matter the relative strengths of the players, it is resolutely a team game, with a dramatic climax."

Controversies
The Chase has also been at the centre of controversy on several occasions, in which viewers have complained that, during the Final Chase, Walsh asks the chasers' questions more quickly than those of the contestants. In an interview with the Radio Times, however, Walsh repudiated those claims: "We have lawyers on the floor to watch all of this. I read [the questions] at exactly the same speed for both." He went on to say, "Don't forget, if I've got Mark Labbett answering questions for two minutes and I've got a team answering for two minutes, the team aren't going to be quicker. Simple as that, because they have to press the button [before answering], which is why they get a head start based on how many people are in the final. If you've got three people in the final chase that's a three-step head start–that's about a twelve-second advantage."

There have also been a number of occasions in which the chaser has won with (almost) no time remaining on the clock, but spokespeople have insisted that an independent adjudicator always checks each show.

On 6 April 2016, in an episode in which Labbett was the chaser, a glitch occurred whereby the clock struck 10 seconds and then increased to 11 seconds, giving Labbett an extra second of time. Although the contestants were far ahead and there was no chance of them being caught, a spokesperson for the show told OK! Online the following day: "There was an error on the clock on last night's episode of the Chase. This error happened during the editing process and not in the studio when the show was being recorded so could not have affected the outcome in any way."

On 4 March 2019, in an episode in which Hegerty was the chaser, Walsh asked a question about which band had the fewest members – with the possible answers being The Proclaimers, The Pretenders or The Prodigy. Many viewers criticised ITV for deciding to air the episode hours after the news had publicly broken about the death of The Prodigy's frontman Keith Flint.

Gameplay is overseen by independent adjudicators – Beyond Dispute Ltd – who verify that all contestants are treated fairly and consistently. Representatives from Beyond Dispute attend the recording of all shows.

Ratings and rivalry with Pointless
During its first two series, the show averaged 1–2 million viewers, but in the third series, ratings rose to over 2 million. By December 2012, The Chase had become ITV's most popular "teatime" programme since The Paul O'Grady Show in 2005, with over 3 million viewers an episode. On 21 January 2013, The Chase managed a peak audience of 5.1 million, a new all-time high. Almost every episode is now in ITV's Top 30 weekly broadcasts.

In its timeslot, The Chase airs at the same time as BBC One's Pointless, a game show launched in August 2009, two months after The Chase's debut. The two programmes usually receive similar ratings (for example in September 2012, The Chase had 2.44 million viewers versus 2.27 million for Pointless). However, between October 2012 and January 2013, The Chase beat Pointless in the ratings each week. For two weeks in February 2013, Pointless received a higher share than The Chase (3.53 million viewers to 3.41 million, and again 3.58 million viewers to 3.30 million).

International versions
Legend:

Currently airing

No longer airing

Upcoming

Merchandise
A board game based on the show was released in 2012 by Ideal. In 2013, a card game based on the show was released by Ginger Fox.

On 12 December 2012, a version for iOS was released by Barnstorm Games. The app features four chasers (excluding Jenny "The Vixen" Ryan, who had not yet appeared on the programme at the time of release) and can be played by up to four people, as in the actual show. The only differences between the app and the show are that four choices are presented for questions in the Cash Builder and the Final Chase rounds and that no Final Chase is played if all players are caught in their individual chases. The app is designed for both iPhones and iPads. An updated version, The Chase: Ultimate Edition, was released in 2017 and features all five chasers and host Walsh.