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The Chase lawyers forced to step in after Bradley Walsh blunder

11 January 2022, 10:16 | Updated: 24 May 2023, 14:00

The Chase viewers are convinced winning team shouldn't have won for this answer

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

Lawyers on The Chase sometimes have to intervene when Bradley Walsh is asking the questions.

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We can’t believe it’s been 14 years since The Chase first hit our screens back in 2009.

And while Bradley Walsh has become a pro at asking questions as quickly as possible, it turns out sometimes he slips up.

In fact, the 61-year-old only gets to see the questions when the contestants do, which means he has no time to rehearse.

Listen on Global Player: Spencer & Vogue. Spencer Matthews and Vogue Williams let you know what they’re doing, thinking, and disagreeing on every week

This becomes particularly tense during the Final Chase, when the hopefuls have just two minutes to get as many points as possible.

Bradley Walsh has been presenting The Chase since 2009. Picture: ITV

Unsurprisingly, the pressure can sometimes lead to mistakes and the show’s lawyers are forced to intervene.

Bradley previously told Radio Times: "If there is a slight misread, I am stopped immediately – bang – by the lawyers.

"We have the compliance lawyers in the studio all the time.

"What you have to do is go back to the start of the question, literally on video tape where my mouth opens – or where it’s closed from the previous question – and the question is re-asked. It is stopped to the split second.

"It means no time is lost for either the contestant or the chaser."

Bradley Walsh has no idea which Chaser is on the show. Picture: ITV

On average, the dad-of-two takes around 3.6 to 4 seconds to ask a question, as he continued: "You have to be at such a speed: if you’re a contestant and I go ‘what’s… the capital… of France… ‘ they’d be dead and buried in thirty seconds."

"I have to make sure they get up to speed and they’re getting about 18 or 19 questions answered correctly. That’s the real banana skin score [that will trip the chasers up].

"Once the chasers get in a rhythm there’s no stopping them. They can answer 24, 25 questions in two minutes. We’ve even almost reached thirty."

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

As well as not being aware which question could come up next, Bradley also previously admitted he genuinely has no idea which Chaser is going to take on the contestants each game.

Chaser Darragh Ennis even told us the quiz masters have to keep a low profile before the shows are filmed.

“The weirdest thing is the preparation before going into the studio,” he told us at Heart.co.uk.

“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.”

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