The Chase (UK game show)

The Chase
Genre	Game 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 (2010–) Paul Sinha (2011–)
Theme music composer	Paul Farrer
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	8[1]
No. of episodes	720[1]
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 (2013–14) Elstree Studios (2014–)[2]
Running time	60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	ITV Studios (2009–13) Potato (2013–)
Distributor	ITV Studios
Broadcast
Original channel	ITV
Picture format	16:9 (HDTV) 1080i
Original run	29 June 2009 (2009-06-29) – present

The Chase is a British television quiz show, broadcast on ITV and hosted by Bradley Walsh. Contestants play against an opponent, known as the "Chaser", who plays for the bank.^[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 in series 4.

A team of four contestants individually attempt to amass as much money as possible, which will later be added to a prize fund if the contestant survives their individual chase. The Chaser's job is 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. Any contestants who survive their individual chase later play collectively as a team for an equal share of the prize fund against the Chaser.^[4]

Gameplay

Cash Builder and Head-to-Head rounds

Each contestant 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. This element is known as the "cash builder". After the minute is up, the money earned from the cash builder is placed three steps down on a seven-step money board (eight steps in the first series). The contestant may remain at this step and play for the money in their bank. However, the contestant may also be placed one step lower down the board for a lesser 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 contestant elects to play for the greater reward, the Chaser starts two steps behind and the contestant must answer six questions correctly to reach home. If the contestant elects to remain at the standard starting position, the Chaser is three steps behind and the contestant must answer five questions correctly to reach home. However, if the contestant elects to play for the smaller reward, the Chaser is four steps behind and the contestant must answer four questions correctly to reach home.

Once the contestant nominates their starting position, questions must then be answered correctly in order to reach the bottom of the board (known as "getting home") and bank their money. Both the contestant and the Chaser are given the same multiple-choice question with three possible answers. Each must then 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 be locked out. For every correct response, the contestant will move one step toward home. Additionally, the Chaser also moves one step down the board for each correct answer. No movement is made (either by the contestant or the Chaser) if an incorrect answer is given. The Chaser's job is to catch up to the contestant and eliminate him or her from the game by capitalising on the mistakes the contestant makes before he or she can reach the bottom of the board. If this happens, the contestant is out of the game and no money is added to the team's total. However, if the contestant reaches home, their money is put into the team's prize pot which will be contested for in the final round. In the case the contestant chose to play for a negative amount and wins his or her Head-to-Head round, the contestant remains in the game but the team's total pot is reduced by the negative value. This is repeated for all four contestants.

The contestants who successfully outrun the Chaser proceed to the Final Chase. If all four contestants are caught by the Chaser, the team's prize fund is set to £4,000 and the team nominates one contestant to proceed to the Final Chase.

The Final Chase

In the final round, called "The Final Chase", the remaining contestants have two minutes to answer as many questions as possible. The contestants choose one of two question sets, A or B, with the other set being put aside for the Chaser. Also, the contestants are given a head start of one space per contestant participating in the round. The contestants must press their own buzzer to answer a question and only the one who pressed the button first can respond; if any other contestant responds the question is thrown out. The buzzer is not used if only one contestant is in the Final Chase. Every correct answer moves the contestants ahead one space.

After the two minutes are up, the Chaser is brought in and is told how many spaces the contestants collected. The Chaser is given a further two minutes of quick-fire questions to attempt to catch the team. If the Chaser gets a question wrong or is unable to answer it, the clock is briefly stopped and the question is thrown over to the contestants; if a correct answer is given, the Chaser is pushed back one space. From series 3 onward, if the contestants answer the Chaser's question correctly whilst the Chaser is at the starting line, an additional space is added to the requirement for the Chaser. If the Chaser succeeds in catching the contestants before time runs out, the contestants lose the prize pot and leave empty-handed. If the contestants are not caught by the Chaser, the prize pot is split equally between those contestants participating in the Final Chase. If there is only one contestant remaining, he or she wins the entire prize pot.

Chasers

• Mark Labbett (2009–present)—Appeared on Mastermind, University Challenge, 15 to 1, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (twice, winning £32,000 and £16,000);^[5] 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" and "The Man Mountain of Maths". Ranked 134th in the World Quizzing Championships 2014.^[6] He is also the Chaser on the U.S. version of the show.

• Shaun Wallace (2009–present)—Appeared on 15 to 1, Beat the Nation, BrainTeaser, the UK version of Greed,^[5] and The Waiting Game; winner of Mastermind, finalist on Are You an Egghead?. Nicknamed "The Dark Destroyer", "The Barrister", "The Legal Eagle" and "The Mastermind Champ". Ranked 455th in the World Quizzing Championships 2014.^[6]

• Anne Hegerty (2010–present)—Appeared on Mastermind (twice),^[5] 15 to 1, Today's the Day and Brain of Britain; 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 the World Quizzing Championships 2014.^[6]

• Paul Sinha (2011–present)—Appeared on Are You an Egghead?, Brain of Britain, Mastermind, University Challenge and The Weakest Link;^[5] ranked 20th in the National quiz rankings (as of 2 July 2011). Nicknamed "The Sinnerman", "The Smiling Assassin" and "Sarcasm in a Suit". Ranked 31st in the World Quizzing Championships 2014.^[6]

Ratings

By December 2012, The Chase had become ITV's most popular "teatime" hit since The Paul O'Grady Show in 2005.^[7] On 21 January 2013, The Chase managed a peak audience of 5.1 million, a new all-time high.^[8] Almost every episode is now in ITV's Top 30 weekly broadcasts.^[9]

In its 5:00 pm timeslot, The Chase airs against another game show on BBC One, Pointless, which was launched in August 2009, two months after The Chase‍ '​s debut. The two programmes usually receive similar ratings (e.g., in September 2012 The Chase had 2.44 million viewers versus 2.27 million for Pointless).^[10][11] 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).^[12][13]

Celebrity Chase

A spin-off featuring celebrity teams as contestants began airing on ITV in 2011. Unlike the regular version, which is broadcast daily, the celebrity version is broadcast weekly. As with the daily show, the spin-off is hosted by Walsh and features the same Chasers (Labbett, Wallace, Hegerty, and Sinha). The game is played exactly the same 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. 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 the Final Chase.

These celebrity episodes have managed shares from 3.13m to 4.58m.^[14]

Transmissions

Regular editions Series Start date 1 29 June 2009[15] 2 24 May 2010[16] 3 3 January 2011[17] 4 5 September 2011[18] 5 31 January 2012[19] 6 29 October 2012[20] 7 2 September 2013[21] 8 1 September 2014[22] Celebrity editions Series Start date End date Episodes 1 29 October 2011[23] 10 December 2011[24] 6[24] 2 19 August 2012[25] 7 October 2012[26] 6[26] 3 5 October 2013[27] 28 December 2013[28] 14[28] Text Santa Special 2013 20 December 2013[29] 1 4 30 August 2014[30] 6 December 2014[31] 15[31] Text Santa Special 2014 13 December 2014[32] 1 5 1 March 2015[33] 8 March 2015[34] 2[34]

Awards

Year	Group	Award	Result	Reference
2013	National Television Awards	Best Daytime Programme	Nominated	[35]
	Broadcast Awards	Best Daytime Programme	Won	[36]
	TV Guide Awards	Best Daytime Programme	Nominated	[37]
2014	National Television Awards	Best Daytime Programme	Nominated	[38]

International versions

Country	Local title	Channel	Presenter	Chaser(s)	Premiere date
China	挑战文化名人 Tiǎozhǎn wénhuà dàshī (Challenge the Culture Masters)[39]	Jiangxi Television	Liu Wei	Meng Man Ji Lianhai Kang Zhen Li Bo	2014–0727 July 2014
Croatia	Potjera (The Chase)[40]	HRT	Tarik Filipović/ree	Dean Kotiga Mirko Miočić Morana Zibar	2013–1027 October 2013
Germany	Gefragt—gejagt (Asked—chased/hunted)[41]	NDR Fernsehen	Alexander Bommes	Holger Waldenberger (Series 1) Sebastian Jacoby (Series 2 & 3)[42] Sebastian Klussmann (Series 2 & 3)[42] Klaus Otto Nagorsnik (Series 3)[43]	2012–088 July 2012
Norway	Jaget (Hunted)[44]	TV 2	Sturla Berg-Johansen	Trine Aalborg Jan Arild Breistein	2014–097 September 2014
Russia	«Погоня» (Pursuit)[45]	Russia 1	Alexander Gurevich[46]	Alexander Ediger Juriy Hashimov Olga Uspanova Boris Burda	2012–1117 November 2012[47]
Serbia	Потера (Potera; The Chase)[48]	RTS	Jovan Memedović	Milorad Milinković (series 1–present) Uroš Đurić (series 1–present) Milica Jokanović (series 2–present) Maja Lalić (series 1)	2013–1028 October 2013[49]
Turkey	Takip (Tracking)[50]	Kanal D	Uraz Kaygilaroğlu	Muhsin Divan	2014–03Spring 2014
United States	The Chase[51]	Game Show Network	Brooke Burns	Mark Labbett	2013–086 August 2013[52]

International broadcasters

•  Australia – The Chase airs weekday afternoons at 3:00 pm on the Seven Network to good ratings. The Seven Network also considered producing a local version, and filmed a pilot episode on the UK set, but decided not to proceed.^[53]
•  New Zealand – The Chase airs weekday afternoons at 4:25 pm on TV One.

Merchandise

A board game based on the show was released in 2012 by Ideal.^[54] 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 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.^[55]

References

External links

• The Chase at UKGameshows.com

The Chase Presenter Bradley Walsh Chasers Mark Labbett (also U.S. Chaser) Shaun Wallace Anne Hegerty Paul Sinha Other U.S. version Brooke Burns (U.S. host)