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The Chase (British game show)

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The Chase
GenreGame show
Created byDanny Carvalho
Pete Faherty
Chris Gepp
Elliot Johnson
Matt Pritchard
Amanda Wilson
Directed byIan Hamilton
Presented byBradley Walsh
StarringMark Labbett
Shaun Wallace
Anne Hegerty (2010–)
Paul Sinha (2011–)
Theme music composerPaul Farrer
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series6 (regular series)
2 (celebrity series)
No. of episodes335 (regular series)
(as of 8 February 2013)
13 (celebrity series)
Production
Executive producersSue Allison
Michael Kelpie
Martin Scott
ProducersJennifer Stephenson
David Hall
Production locationsGranada Studios (2009)
The London Studios (2010–)
EditorNick Parker
Running time60mins (inc. adverts)
Production companyITV Studios
Original release
NetworkITV, STV, UTV
Release29 June 2009 (2009-06-29) –
present
Related
Eggheads

The Chase is a 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".[1][2][3] The Chasers are Anne Hegerty, Mark Labbett, Paul Sinha and Shaun Wallace. Labbett and Wallace have both been Chasers since series 1, while Hegerty joined in series 2 and Sinha joined in series 4.

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".[4]

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 their answer, otherwise, they are locked out and are treated as having given a wrong answer. If the player and/or The Chaser is correct, they move one step down the board, but if wrong or if one fails to lock in before or within five seconds after their opponent, 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 answer as many 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 4 players being caught, then the one nominated person will receive a one step headstart, as opposed to having no headstart at all.) To answer a question, the player must press their own buzzer and only he or she can answer it. 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 a further two minutes of quick-fire questions to attempt to catch the team. If The Chaser gets any question wrong or can't answer it, the clock is stopped and the question is thrown over to the players. If they get the answer correct, The Chaser is pushed back one step and the clock is resumed. From series three onwards, 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 leave 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 are 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).

The Chasers

  • 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.[5]
  • Paul Sinha (2011–present)—ranked 20th in the National quiz rankings (as of 2 July 2011). Nicknamed "The Sinnerman" and "The Smiling Assassin".[6]
    Ranked 42nd in World Quizzing Championships 2012.[5]

Catchphrases

The show has become known for Walsh's array of catchphrases, such as "It's time to bring on/back The Chaser", "Time to face The Chaser", "For (amount of money), The Chase...is on", "You're one step closer to home", "Let's cut to The Chase" and "(Contestant's name), you have been caught and for you, The Chase...is over".[7]

Ratings

For its first two series, The Chase received moderate ratings of 1-1.5 million viewers. It started to pick up during series 3 and 4 and by the first celebrity series, it brought in up to 4.2 million viewers. Viewing figures have been hitting 3-4 million an episode since series 6. On 4 December 2012, The Chase received 3.6 million viewers, the highest ever for regular editions.[8] It was reported the following week that The Chase was now ITV's most popular teatime hit since The Paul O'Grady Show in 2005.[9] On 21 January 2013, The Chase managed a peak audience of 5.1 million, a new all-time high.[10]

Series 1

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2
Monday 1.44 1.50
Tuesday 1.41 1.57
Wednesday 1.31 1.49
Thursday 1.41 1.45
Friday 1.16 1.58
Weekly average 1.346 1.518
Running average 1.346 1.432
Series average 1.432

Series 2

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9
Monday 1.06 1.20 1.50 1.73 1.55 1.52 1.72 1.66 1.88
Tuesday 1.11 1.48 1.40 1.92 2.24 — 1.70 1.85 —
Wednesday 1.17 1.03 1.36 1.40 1.64 1.46 1.82 1.82 —
Thursday 1.16 1.02 — 1.59 2.36 1.91 1.78 2.14 —
Friday 1.01 1.07 2.48 1.67 1.79 1.86 1.66 1.93 —
Weekly average 1.102 1.160 1.685 1.662 1.916 1.687 1.736 1.880 1.880
Running average 1.102 1.131 1.408 1.535 1.726 1.706 1.721 1.801 1.840
Series average 1.634

Series 3

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8
Monday 2.23 2.32 2.35 2.46 2.59 2.61 2.60 2.55
Tuesday 2.09 2.41 2.50 2.49 2.87 2.45 2.50 2.55
Wednesday 2.07 2.36 2.35 2.50 2.71 2.58 2.51 2.52
Thursday 1.97 2.65 2.55 2.60 2.70 2.54 2.63 2.52
Friday 2.25 2.58 2.60 2.52 2.68 2.56 2.55 2.50
Weekly average 2.122 2.464 2.470 2.514 2.710 2.548 2.558 2.528
Running average 2.122 2.293 2.382 2.448 2.579 2.563 2.561 2.545
Series average 2.489

Series 4

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8
Monday 1.99 2.22 2.17 1.97 2.05 2.01 2.30 2.29
Tuesday 2.08 2.11 2.25 1.84 2.13 2.17 2.33 2.47
Wednesday 2.12 2.00 2.13 1.92 1.99 2.03 2.28 2.38
Thursday 1.99 1.82 2.07 1.97 2.20 2.15 2.31 2.48
Friday 1.73 2.07 1.99 1.78 2.23 2.02 2.32 2.46
Weekly average 1.982 2.044 2.122 1.896 2.120 2.076 2.308 2.416
Running average 1.982 2.013 2.049 2.011 2.033 2.040 2.078 2.120
Series average 2.120

Celebrity series 1

Episode no. Air date Total viewers
(millions)		 ITV1 weekly ranking
1
29 October 2011
3.97
21
2
5 November 2011
4.26
19
3
19 November 2011
4.20
24
4
26 November 2011
4.05
21
5
3 December 2011
4.01
24
6
10 December 2011
3.62
21

Series 5

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 Week 18 Week 19 Week 20 Week 21 Week 22 Week 23 Week 24 Week 25 Week 26 Week 27 Week 28
Monday 2.89
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Weekly average
Running average
Series average

Celebrity series 2

Episode no. Air date Total viewers
(millions)		 ITV1 weekly ranking
1
19 August 2012
3.20
21
2
26 August 2012
3.13
19
3
16 September 2012
4.58
17
4
23 September 2012
4.42
17
5
30 September 2012
4.27
17
6
7 October 2012
4.43
16

Series 6

Viewers (millions)
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Week 16
Monday 3.55 —
Tuesday — 5.10
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday 3.53 3.43 3.56
Weekly average
Running average
Series average

Rivalry with Pointless

In its 5:00pm timeslot, The Chase competes with another game show, Pointless, on BBC One. The two shows usually get similar ratings, with The Chase often just edging it.[11][12][13]

The Chase is currently opening the gap between Pointless – it was reported that on 7 December 2012, The Chase gathered 3.7 million viewers (inc. +1, overnight), whereas Pointless only achieved 2.65 million. Between October 2012 and January 2013, The Chase did not once lose in the ratings to Pointless, until Pointless received 3.71 million viewers to The Chase's 3.56 million.[14]

Episode results

Chaser records

Chaser Shows Wins Losses Win percentage Highest score Highest winning score Lowest losing score Amount lost Amount lost per episode loss
Anne 89 71 18 79.78% 26 26 14 £506,400 £28,133
Paul 60 47 13 78.33% 27 24 14 £273,000 £22,750
Mark 99 73 26 73.74% 27 26 13 £461,001 £17,731
Shaun 88 59 29 67.05% 24 23 8 £577,900 £19,928

Celebrity series and specials

Chaser Shows Wins Losses Winning percentage Highest score Highest winning score Lowest losing score
Anne 4 3 1 75% 19 19 13
Paul 2 1 1 50% 17 10 17
Mark 5 2 3 40% 17 17 11
Shaun 2 0 2 0% 15 N/A 11

Contestant records

Category Record
Highest offer £100,000
(Tim Vine, Denise Welch, Jimmy Carr)
Highest amount won
(per contestant)		 £60,000
Highest amount won in non-celebrity episode
(per contestant)		 £60,000
(one contestant)
Highest amount won in the Final Chase by one person alone £60,000
Highest amount won in the cash-builder £14,000
Biggest winning total £100,000
(four contestants, celebrity edition)
Biggest non-celebrity winning total £60,000
(one contestant)
Smallest winning total £4,000
Biggest losing total £70,000
Highest winning score 28
(Mark scored 27, show 2-19
Paul scored 27, show 5-51)
Lowest winning score 13
(Mark scored 11, 2012 Christmas Special)
Highest score in The Final Chase 28 (show 2-19
show 5-51)
Lowest score in The Final Chase 7 (show 6-25)
Highest score in The Final Chase by one person alone 23
(caught by Anne, 0:16 remaining, show 3-10)
(caught by Mark, 0:09 remaining, show 4-11)
Lowest score in The Final Chase by four people 15 (Celebrity Series 2 Episode 3)
16 (Regular Series, show 5-85 and show 5-20)
Lowest amount banked -£9,000
Highest amount banked by one person £67,000
(Phil Tufnell)
Biggest winning margin 13
(contestants scored 22, Shaun scored 9, show 4-3)
Quickest defeat Caught with 1:33 remaining
(Mark, show 6-25)
Closest defeat Caught with 0:00 remaining
(Shaun, show 2-23)
Weakest contestant Keith Newbery – all questions wrong; nothing banked
(also missed both his questions in The Chase; Anne got them both right and eliminated him).

Transmissions

Regular series

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 29 June 2009 10 July 2009 10
2 24 May 2010 19 July 2010 40
3 3 January 2011 25 February 2011 40
4 5 September 2011 28 October 2011 40
5 3 January 2012 26 October 2012 138
6 29 October 2012
7 2013 2014 150[10]
8 2014 2015 150[10]

Celebrity series/2012 special

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 29 October 2011 10 December 2011 6
2 19 August 2012 7 October 2012 6
Christmas
Special		 21 December 2012[15] 1
  • The episode that aired on 21 December 2012 featured Lorraine Kelly, Craig Charles, Jamelia and Dom Joly, who all played for Text Santa.
  • This episode featured all four Chasers. Each celebrity picked out a Christmas ball from a bag that determined which Chaser they would face. Kelly picked out Mark, Charles picked out Anne, Jamelia picked out Paul and Joly was left with Shaun. For The Final Chase, Walsh asked the remaining celebrities which Chaser they wanted to play against. The celebrities picked Mark.

Awards

Year Group Award Result Reference(s)
2013 National Television Awards Best Daytime Programme Nominated [16]
Broadcast Awards Best Daytime Programme Won [17]

International versions

In May 2012, the U.S. TV network Fox ordered two pilots to be recorded in London for consideration in its line-up.[18][19] 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. So far, Fox has made no announcement of the status of the pilots or the show.[20]

"Gefragt — gejagt" is the German version of The Chase. Only six episodes have been aired on NDR channel (8 July - 12 August 2012).[21] Unlike other versions, however, there was only one Chaser, the European champion Holger Waldenberger.

From 17 November 2012,[22] a Russian version of The Chase began. Alexander Gurevich, the host of Sto k odnomu (the Russian version of Family Feud) since 1995, hosts the show on Russia 1.[23] There are four Chasers that are known as "The Masters": Alexander Ediger, Juriy Hashimov, Olga Uspanova (all three are Jeopardy! (Svoya Igra) players) and Boris Burda (What? Where? When? (Chto? Gde? Kogda?) and Jeopardy! player).

Merchandise

Board game

A board game of the show was released in September 2012, available for £19.99.[24]

iOS app

On 12 December 2012, an iOS app of The Chase was released by Barnstorm Games. The app features all 4 Chasers and can be played by up to 4 people, as in the actual show. The only dfference between the app and the actual show is that in the cash-builder rounds and The Final Chase after each player has played, you are given four options for the answers. The app costs £1.49 and can be played on iPhones, iPod Touches and iPads.[25]

References

  1. ^ Bradley Walsh :: TV :: The Chase
  2. ^ The Chase (TV Series 2009– ) - IMDb
  3. ^ The Chase - Be on TV - ITV
  4. ^ ITV Media
  5. ^ a b c d Results | International Quizzing Association
  6. ^ "British Quizzing Association—Home of British Quiz!". British Quizzing Association. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
  7. ^ "The Chase - UKGameshows". UKGameshows. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  8. ^ ITV Media
  9. ^ Millar, Paul (9 December 2012). "'The Chase' now ITV's biggest teatime hit since Paul O'Grady". Digital Spy.
  10. ^ a b c Fletcher, Alex (28 January 2013). "'The Chase' gets 300 more episodes, 24 celeb specials on ITV". Digital Spy. Associated Newspapers. Retrieved 28 January 2013.
  11. ^ 'Pointless', 'The Chase' neck-and-neck in teatime ratings - TV News - Digital Spy
  12. ^ Pointless v The Chase - Broadcasting - Digital Spy Forums
  13. ^ Paul O'Grady's 'Dogs' show bows out with nearly 5m viewers - TV News - Digital Spy
  14. ^ Millar, Paul (6 January 2013). "'Pointless' overtakes 'The Chase' in first week of 2013". Digital Spy. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  15. ^ THE CHASE - CELEBRITY SPECIAL 2012: FREE TICKETS from Lost in TV
  16. ^ National Television Awards 2013: Longlist nominations in full - vote - TV News - Digital Spy
  17. ^ 'Call the Midwife', 'Britain's Got Talent' up for Broadcast Awards - TV News - Digital Spy
  18. ^ “The Chase” Being Piloted for Fox in America | BuzzerBlog
  19. ^ Bradley Walsh to film 'The Chase' US pilot - TV News - Digital Spy
  20. ^ ITVS takes The Chase to US with Fox gameshow pilot | News | Broadcast
  21. ^ Gefragt - Gejagt (2): Quizshow | 15. Juli 2012, 22:45 Uhr | NDR.de - Fernsehen - TV-Programm
  22. ^ Телеканал «Россия» / Программа телепередач на сегодня и на неделю
  23. ^ «Погоня» (30.09-2.10) • GameShows.ru
  24. ^ Buy The Chase Board Game at Argos.co.uk - Your Online Shop for Games and board games
  25. ^ The Chase for iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPhone 5, iPod touch (3rd generation), iPod touch (4th generation), iPod touch (5th generation) and iPad on the iTunes App Store

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