Bradley Walsh should be made President of every country in the world.
A video recently emerged showing a particularly viral moment on daytime television, and of course, it happened on The Chase.
Host Bradley Walsh asked the question: “The Bogside is part of which Northern Irish city?”, to which a guest replied “Londonderry”, with absolute confidence. The buzzer for a wrong answer sounded, and Bradley told him that the correct answer was “Derry”.
Naturally, it has gotten the meme treatment online, although most of the videos going around aren’t exactly appropriate for us to include in this tribute, as you might imagine…
But it got us thinking about The Chase – always a good thing – and we wondered ‘Has there ever been a better quiz show on television?’ Because we really don’t think so.
The Chase is the perfect bit of TV for when you’re off sick from work or college.
You trawl through the channels, hoping that there’s something better than Jeremy Kyle on, and The Chase will inevitably come to the rescue.
But you might wonder what makes it such a brilliant show. Well, we’ve come up with a few reasons why we love it so much, and we’re sure you’ll agree.
The format
A lot of quiz game shows have a fairly boring way of doing things. A simple ask-and-answer type set up. We’re looking at you, Eggheads.
And with all due respect to fans of Eggheads and that sort of thing, The Chase is way better, because it’s not just for nerds.
Those shows are for nerds. No two ways about it. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it doesn’t have the inclusiveness that The Chase does.
Unlike shows like Eggheads and University Challenge, the questions aren’t absolutely impossible. Your average person could go on The Chase and go home with a life-changing amount of money, depending on the offers made.
Which brings us to the offers…
The drama
After each contestant answers a series of quick-fire questions, they will be made an offer by whichever Chaser they are up against. A higher offer, the offer that reflects how many questions they got right, and the three worst words in the English language: the lower offer.
There is a special place in Hell reserved for the people who choose the lower offer. I mean, how the hell were you raised? What happened to you in your childhood that made you such a coward? You are EMBARRASSING yourself on national television, and you have brought disgrace to your family’s name.
Sorry about that.
As disgusting as the people who choose the lower offer are, it still makes for some amazing entertainment.
Watching someone walk back to their team after accepting the minus offer, and seeing the blind rage in their teammates’ eyes, matched with the unbridled joy in The Chaser’s eyes for causing such tension, is a sight to behold.
The Chasers
Although the contestants are always important to a game show like this, it is the regulars who make it what it is.
And the regulars on The Chase are four mammoths of daytime television, who have already cemented their place in the Hall of Fame of amazing game show characters.
The four chasers are Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett, Anne ‘The Governess’ Hegarty, Paul ‘The Sinnerman’ Sinha and Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace.
A fifth chaser has recently been added to the squad – Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan.
Every one of them as iconic as the next.
We all have our personal favourites, and we’d even go as far as to say that sometimes we are rooting for them to win. Either that or this writer is just evil.
The host
Bradley Walsh makes The Chase what it is. Sure, it’s amazing television show either way, but he is the icing on top of the delicious cake that is this quiz show.
We already touched on the “Derry” reference that enamoured him to quite a lot of people in Ireland, but his charm doesn’t stop there.
He’s always so determined to help the contestants on the show, more so than any quiz show presenter we’ve ever seen.
He’s just a legend.
Oh, and if you don’t follow him on Instagram, get on that now.
And if that wasn’t enough, he and Stormzy have the cutest bromance in the world:
Clip via The Jonathan Ross Show
The laughs
We don’t want to keep coming back to Eggheads, but when was the last time you laughed while watching it?
Or University Challenge, or Pointless, or any other quiz shows that don’t hold a candle to The Chase.
What other show would have the host literally exploding with tears because one of the questions involved the name Fanny Chmelar?
The scene gave birth to one of the best television lines of the past ten years, when Walsh said: “I’d be straight down the court in the morning if that was my name, I’d have that changed straight away.”
Even The Governess struggled to keep it together…
Clip via The Chase – Funniest Moments
And admittedly The Chase as a whole does have its flaws. The Celebrity Edition of the show doesn’t hold a candle to the real thing – the questions are too easy, the banter is forced, and it’s hard to root against them when the money won goes to charity…
But that doesn’t take away from The Chase being the best TV quiz show of all time.
Never change, Bradley Walsh.
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