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Seven-owned website questions if The Chase is rigged

Huh? Guess this is what we call friendly fire...

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Well here’s the first oddity of the year….

Seniors website Starts At 60, which is a third-owned by Seven West Media, has posted an article reporting that UK fans are accusing The Chase of being rigged, with some calling for it to be axed.

“ITV, the channel that is home to the UK Chase has come under scrutiny in recent months with accusations of rigging the results and using its format to cheat players out of winnings. Even the shows animated host and comedian, Bradley Walsh could not protect the show from a fierce backlash,” it reported.

The saga surrounds a final chase in which Mark Labbett made a near-perfect run of 17 of 18 final questions, eventually shattering the dreams of 3 contestants and the £60,000 (A$103,316) prize fund they accumulated.

“One use on Twitter exclaimed ‘Biggest fix on television #TheChase’”

“This show is a joke now. Scrap it ITV #TheChase #FixedForTheChaser,” another viewer said.

One person even said, “I think the chasers go and get answers backstage and get a few wrong to look legitimate #thechase.”

So far over 350 of the site’s users have also weighed in, many theorising the Australian version may be rigged too and others lamenting too many contestants walk away empty-handed.

Labbett’s response to the accusations, “I understand [why they think so] because it comes down to one single thing: people don’t believe we’re that good.”

24 Responses

  1. The rigging in the last round is the difference in the way answers are provided. The contestants have to press their buzzers and then wait for their name to be called. The chaser doesn’t have to press a buzzer or wait for his name to be called thus giving them the possibility of answering additional questions in the time period.

  3. I watched an Aussie one last year where a guy got $20,000 in his cash builder and only passed on one question which was about pop music. Against the Chaser three of the questions were about that subject and the guy was eliminated. I call shenanigans.

  4. Conspiracy theories abound. “Game shows need winners”. All those years and not one whistleblower.
    I wonder if “Madam Lash” is still writing quiz questions?

  6. I was on the Aussie version last year and seriously doubt its rigged. Like the earlier post mentioned they were on Hot Seat, when you’re there your head is spinning, absolutely true, I got the easiest of first questions wrong just because I was petrified of everything but managed to claw back a decent cash builder only to bomb out against Goliath, team didn’t fair much better. If anything when they do have snafus during the record the advantage is usually to the contestants

  8. Firstly, it’s disappointing that a shoddy website such as ‘Starts at 60’ is regarded as worthy to quote as a news source. I too could outlay $50 a year to own a URL and post whatever rubbish I want in the hope that someone more reputable will reference it as being ‘the voice of the people’. If I was a shareholder of Seven West Media I’d be asking some pointed questions of the directors to understand why they feel a ramshackle website is worthy of their shareholders’ capital.

    Secondly, to suggest Mark Labbett cheated because he correctly answered 17 consecutive questions is laughable. I’ve had my fair share of success at pub trivia nights and I correctly answered 15 of the questions, so it’s entirely feasible that a professional quizzer like Mark would be able to correctly answer 17. Just because he knows the answers that you don’t doesn’t make him a cheat.

  9. I’ve worked it out, The Chase’s host, Bradley Walsh is set to play the new companion (Graham) in the upcoming series of Doctor Who, being that he is now connected to the Time Lord, he has taken the Chasers on journeys into the future where they can watch their own show, see the answers they give and then return to the present day to give the correct answers. Basically, they cheat by creating a paradox. Confused? It’s basically the same idea as how Amy and Rory named River after herself. Also, this gives new meaning to the Doctor Who episode, “The Beast Below”.

  10. I can never get over how long two minutes can seem, especially the last 20 seconds ! The English show must be doing something right because they have been on air for many years and all the different country spin offs as well. Wherever there is money involved, people will yell cheating !!

  11. I would have thought it’s more the other way . People don’t want to see people always lose so sometimes it seems the chaser go soft and let the contestants win . It would have been a better format where the chaser has something to lose apart from pride

  12. I’ve oft held the opinion that the Chaser (in both versions) writes the questions. They are then given the yeah or neigh by a producer as to the amount of theatrics required for that episode – even whether to allow a win or a loss. Completely unsubstantiated, but that’s my opinion.

  13. Of course the UK and Australian versions are manipulated. In both versions the so called random nature of the questions from a computer is rubbish. Many times I have observed the Dark Destroyer in the UK version get too high a percentage of TV/movie questions in the final chase. This is a well known area of least knowledge for this chaser. The so called choice of Set A or Set B is readily manipulated as required by the producers. In the Aussie version greater numbers of contestants reach the final round due to the elementary nature and simplicity of the questions in the first cash builder rounds. This then gives the chaser a bigger target score to reach in the final round. This manipulation is rife in all reality programs such as My Kitchen Rules where extreme editing produces faux drama. Nothing will change because audience numbers are the key driving force.

  14. Honestly does anyone actually believe it’s not??Probably the easiest of all quiz shows to be able to be.Watched it a few times early on and made the conclusion as per this story and have never watched again

  15. Always thought this show is skewed to the chasers who are on the show each night. New contestants are nervous, not used to the environment whereas the “chasers” are on all the time – and more comfortable, probably clear headed [I know when I was on Millionaire, my head was a cycolinic mess]…. so while I don’t believe they rig it by giving the chasers the questions beforehand, I think the environment of the show is def bias towards the chasers. Rarely watch it for this reason, I don’t believe in the format of it.

  20. Fed up of seeing mainstream media put together fixed articles based on the inevitable handful of tweets a show like The Chase will get. Journalists used to have to back up such accusations.

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