The Chase

The Chase
Genre	Game show
Format	Quiz show
Created by	Danny Carvalho; Pete Faherty; Chris Gepp; Elliot Johnson; Matt Pritchard; Amanda Wilson
Directed by	Ian Hamilton; Stuart Macdonald
Creative director(s)	Michael Kelpie
Presented by	Bradley Walsh
Starring	Mark Labbett Shaun Wallace Anne Hegerty Paul Sinha Jenny Ryan Darragh Ennis
Theme music composer	Paul Farrer
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	17 (regular series) 13 (celebrity series)
No. of episodes	2407 (regular series) 144 (celebrity series)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Sue Allison; Martin Scott
Producer(s)	Jennifer Stephenson; David Hall
Location(s)	Granada Studios (2009) The London Studios (2010–13) Teddington Studios (2013–2014) Elstree Studios (2014-present) Television Centre (2019-present; celebrity series)
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	ITV Studios (2009–13) Potato (2013–)
Distributor	ITV Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV, STV, UTV
Picture format	HDTV: 16:9
Original run	29 June 2009 – present
External links
	Website

The Chase is an award-winning British game show broadcast on ITV and hosted by Bradley Walsh in which contestants play against an opponent who plays for the bank, known as "The Chaser". The Chasers are Anne Hegerty, Mark Labbett, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis. Labbett and Wallace have both been Chasers since series 1, while Hegerty joined in series 2, Sinha joined in series 4, Jenny Ryan joins in series 9 and Ennis in series 13.

A team of four contestants attempt to amass as much money as possible for a team kitty by answering quick-fire questions in a 60-second round. Each correct answer earns the contestant £1,000. The money earned will go towards the team kitty, but there is one person standing in their way: a quiz genius known as The Chaser. The Chaser's job is to catch each contestant and make sure the players are not able to put the money into the kitty which the team must collectively play for in "The Final Chase".

Format[]

Cash-builder round[]

Each player comes up one at a time and is given one minute to answer as many questions as possible with each correct answer worth £1,000.

Personal Chase[]

After the minute is up, the player's money is placed three steps down on a seven-step money board (eight steps in the first series). The player may remain at this step and play for the money they have won, but if they so wish, they can be placed one step lower down the board for a smaller award, or one step further up the board for a greater award, with each award's value being set by The Chaser. The lower award can occasionally be a negative amount of money.

If the player elects to play for the greater reward, The Chaser is two steps behind them and the player must answer six questions correctly to reach home. If the player elects to remain where they are, The Chaser is three steps behind them and the player must answer five questions correctly to reach home. However, if the player elects to play for the smaller reward, The Chaser is four steps behind them and the player must answer four questions correctly to reach home.

Once the player nominates their starting position, they must answer questions correctly in order to reach the bottom of the board (known as "getting home") and bank their money. Both the player and The Chaser are given the same multiple-choice question with three possible answers, then must secretly press one of the three buttons on their keypad to lock in their answer. When one person locks in their answer, the other is given five seconds to lock in, or else they will get locked out. If the player and/or The Chaser is correct, they move one step down the board, but if either is wrong or ran out of time, they must remain where they are. The Chaser's job is to catch up to the player and eliminate them from the game by capitalising on the mistakes the player makes before they can reach the bottom of the board. If this happens, the player is out of the game and the cash disappears, but if the player reaches home, their money is put into the team's prize pot which will be contested for in the final round. This is repeated for all four players.

The players who successfully outrun The Chaser proceed to The Final Chase. If all four players are caught by The Chaser, then their prize fund is set to £4,000 (£20,000 in celebrity episodes) and the team must nominate one player to proceed to The Final Chase.

The Final Chase[]

In the final round, the remaining players choose one of two question sets (A or B) and answer as many quick-fire questions as possible in two minutes to amass as many spaces as possible. To start, they are given one space per remaining member of the team. In the case of all four players being caught, then the one nominated person will receive a one step head start, as opposed to having no head start at all. To answer a question, the player must press their own buzzer and only he or she can answer it. In this stage, players are not allowed to confer or discuss questions. In the event there's only one player in The Final Chase, that player is not required to press the buzzer. After the two minutes are up, The Chaser is brought in and is told how many spaces the players collected. The Chaser is given two minutes of quick-fire questions from the other set to attempt to catch the team. If The Chaser gets any question wrong or can't answer it, the clock stops and the question is thrown over to the players to confer. If they get the answer correct, The Chaser is pushed back one step and the clock is resumed. From series 3 onward, if the players answer a Chaser's question correctly whilst the Chaser is on zero steps, an extra step is added to the players' total. If The Chaser succeeds in catching the team, the team loses the prize pot and leaves empty-handed, but if the team is not caught by The Chaser before the clock reaches zero, the prize pot is split equally between the remaining team players.

On the celebrity episodes, if the team is caught during The Final Chase, a consolation prize of £1,000 is awarded to each of the remaining celebrities (those who succeeded in their individual chases or, if everybody was caught in their individual chases, the entire team).

Chasers[]

Mark Labbett (2009–present)—£32,000 winner on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, runner-up on The People's Quiz, runner-up on Brain of Britain, represented Wales from 2005–2007 at the European quiz championships. Nicknamed "The Beast", "Beastie Boy" and "The Man Mountain".Ranked 81st in World Quizzing Championships 2012.
Shaun Wallace (2009–present)—appeared on The Waiting Game, winner of Mastermind, finalist on Are You an Egghead?. Nicknamed "The Dark Destroyer", "The Barrister", "The Legal Eagle", "Mr. Smooth" and ‘Grumpy Drawers’. Ranked 286th in World Quizzing Championships 2012.
Anne Hegerty (2010–present)—semi-finalist on Are You an Egghead?, holds the rank of Grand Master in the UK quiz rankings. Nicknamed "The Governess" and "Frosty Knickers". Ranked 40th in World Quizzing Championships 2012.
Paul Sinha (2011–present)—ranked 20th in the National quiz rankings (as of 2 July 2011). Nicknamed "The Sinnerman", "The Smiling Assassin" and "Sarcasm in a Suit". Ranked 42nd in World Quizzing Championships 2012.
Jenny Ryan (2015-present) Nicknamed "The Vixen" and "The Bolton Brainiac."
Darragh Ennis (2020-present)—Irish expatriate living in the UK. Nicknamed "The Menace" and "The Dublin Dynamo."

International versions[]

Gefragt — gejagt (Asked — chased/hunted) is the German version of The Chase, presented by Alexander Bommes. Six episodes have aired on NDR channel in its first run (8 July – 12 August 2012). Unlike the UK version, there was only one Chaser, the European champion Holger Waldenberger. In June 2013 a new season began with another Chaser.

Russia[]

A Russian version of The Chase, titled «Погоня» (Pursuit), began airing on 17 November 2012. Alexander Gurevich, the host of Sto k odnomu (the Russian version of Family Feud) since 1995, hosts the show on Russia 1. There are four Chasers, referred to as as "The Masters": Alexander Ediger, Juriy Hashimov, Olga Uspanova and Boris Burda. All four are former Jeopardy! (Svoya Igra) players, and Burda also appeared on Chto? Gde? Kogda? (What? Where? When?)..

United States[]

Main article: The Chase (U.S. game show)

In May 2012, the U.S. TV network Fox ordered two pilots to be recorded in London for consideration in its line-up. Walsh was the host for both pilots, while Labbett was The Chaser for one, and Jeopardy! champion Brad Rutter was The Chaser for the other. In April 2013, GSN announced that they had ordered eight episodes. Brooke Burns (formerly of Dog Eat Dog) was named the host, and the program began airing on 6 August 2013 at 9:00PM Eastern. Although not affilated with production of the U.S. version of the show, Jaci Stephen revealed via her Twitter account on 9 April that Labbett would be the a Chaser on the GSN version. On 1 July 2013 (prior to the show's premiere on GSN), GSN announced that a second series of eight episodes had been ordered.

Australia[]

Main article: The Chase (Australian game show)

The Chase Australia follows the same format as the British Chase, with Andrew O’Keefe as the host and it features these chasers: Mark Labbett (The Beast) Anne Hegerty (The Governess) Issa Schlutz (The Supernerd), Matt Parkinson (Goliath) and Brydon Coverdale (The Shark). In 2018, Shaun Wallace made guest appearances as ‘The Destroyer’ and in 2019 Cheryl Toh made guest appearances as ‘Tiger Mom.’

Merchandise[]

A board game of the show was released in 2012.^[29] On 12 December 2012, a version for iOS was released by Barnstorm Games. The app features all four Chasers and can be played by up to four people, as in the actual show. The only difference between the app and the show is that four choices instead of three are presented for multiple choice questions in the cash-builder and The Final Chase rounds. The app is designed for both iPhones and iPads.^[30]

References[]

The logo for The Chase Australia Celebrity Specials

External links[]

The Chase at itv.com.
The Chase at UKGameshows.com.