Entertainment

ITV announces The Chase spin-off with a big difference

Beat The Chasers will arrive next year.
Beat The Chasers will arrive next year.

The Chase is getting a spin-off that will see all five Chasers team up for the first time.

ITV has commissioned Beat The Chasers, which will be hosted by Bradley Walsh in a prime-time slot.

It will be the first time Mark “The Beast” Labbett, Paul “The Sinnerman” Sinha, Anne “The Governess” Hegerty, Shaun “The Dark Destroyer” Wallace and Jenny “The Vixen” Ryan have worked together on screen.

Beat The Chasers has been developed by Potato, the team behind The Chase and a part of ITV Studios.

The announcement comes after the show won the gong for best quiz at the National Television Awards 2019.

Hegerty also appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2018 while Ryan competed on the X Factor: Celebrity this autumn.

In May this year Sinha was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease at the age of 49, announcing his intention to continue appearing on The Chase.

Walsh said: “The contestants are brave facing one Chaser, let alone all five.

Bradley Walsh
Bradley Walsh (Isabel Infantes/PA)

“With that group of top quizzing brains working as a team, it’s going to take some beating. But I can’t wait to see who’s going to take them on.”

ITV’s head of entertainment Katie Rawcliffe said: “It’s so exciting to be expanding the award-winning The Chase format.

“Chasers and contestants alike will really need to hold their nerve to come out victorious in this new spin on the quizzing format.”

Potato’s managing director Michael Kelpie said: “For quiz fans, this is the equivalent of competing in the Olympics or playing in an FA Cup final.

“It’s the ultimate challenge against the greatest quiz team ever assembled.

“In this brand new format, anyone who thinks they’re clever enough can take on the nation’s favourite quizzers.”

The series will be stripped across a week next year.