The Chase newcomer Darragh Ennis spills backstage secrets and reveals 'secret competition' between Chasers

20 November 2020, 14:51 | Updated: 2 December 2020, 09:05

New Chaser Darragh Ennis reveals 'secret competition' between The Chase co-stars

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

Darragh Ennis has spoken to us about joining The Chase.

ITV's newest Chaser Darragh Ennis finally made his debut on The Chase this week and managed to beat his first team of contestants.

Darragh ‘The Menace’ has joined quizzing pros Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan, Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace, Mark ‘The Beast Labbett’, Anne ‘The Governess’ Hegerty and Paul ‘The Sinnerman’ Sinha.

And now he’s spoken to us exclusively at Heart.co.uk about what really goes on behind-the-scenes on Bradley Walsh’s ITV show.

The 40-year-old actually appeared on The Chase as a player all the way back in 2017, and he was surprised when the ITV production team later gave him a call.

Darragh told us: “After we recorded, well before it aired about three years ago, the production team contacted me and asked me to come in because they were thinking about adding a new chaser.

Read More: The Chase viewers fume as Bradley Walsh 'ignores correct answer'

“I went in and I had loads of different auditions and did lots of training with them for about a year and a half, two years before we started recording.”

Darragh’s first show was actually recorded 14 months ago despite only airing on Thursday evening, but the new Chaser has said he still isn’t used to being a star of the iconic show.

“The weirdest thing is the preparation before going into the studio,” he said.

Darragh Ennis reveals 'bizarre' part of filming for The Chase

“People run around after us and I find that super bizarre. You have to hide from the contestants and you’re not allowed to walk around on your own.”

He added: “I find that really unsettling, we’ve even got a different queue for food, it's really bizarre.”

Read More: The Chase viewers in hysterics as they spot odd connection with players’ names

While all the Chasers appear on their own in each episode, scientist and researcher Darragh revealed there is a lot of competition backstage.

Fellow chaser Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett has even created a detailed ‘statistics sheet’ to see who is in the lead.

“Mark keeps exhaustive statistics and posts them up. It’s based on win percentages and how good the team you are up against,” Darragh told us.

“Is extremely friendly but it’s extremely competitive as well. If you lose or have a bad day everyone rallies round and it’s really nice but we do keep an eye on the stats.”

And it turns out host Bradley Walsh is just as charismatic backstage as he is on our screens, as Darragh told us ‘it’s not an act’.

He said: “90 per cent of his job is to stop the contestants from freezing up on camera.

“People talk about the chasers as if we’re the stars of the show, but we’re not Brad is. He is absolutely the centre of attention.”

The Chase continues every weekday at 5pm on ITV.

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