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Larry Emdur locks on as new host of The Chase

"I can’t wait dust off my shiny game show shoes," says Seven's Larry Emdur.

Seven has today confirmed Larry Emdur is taking the helm at The Chase Australia.

As previously tipped, he takes over the role following the departure of Andrew O’Keefe.

Emdur will film his first episodes next month, in addition to his duties on The Morning Show.

“I’ve had a love affair with quiz shows for most of my working life and the opportunity to host one of the TV world’s greatest formats is incredibly exciting,” he said.

“I’ve always enjoyed watching The Chase Australia and I can’t wait to dust off my shiny game show shoes, apply some ‘game show’ grade teeth whitener and learn how to say words like pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.”

Seven’s Network Programming Director, Angus Ross, said: “Everyone at Seven is delighted that Larry has agreed to take on this new role.

“He is the ideal host for The Chase Australia. Australians love Larry. Australians love the show. Together, they are the perfect combination.”

Emdur has famously hosted over 1,500 episodes of The Price Is Right, plus Wheel Of Fortune and The Main Event.

Emdur’s first episodes of The Chase Australia, produced ITV Studios Australia, will screen on Seven later this year.

37 Responses

  1. Shame Andrew got punted, he was fantastic on this show. Larry I am a bit meh about, I associate him more with razzle dazzle game shows rather than quiz shows.

  2. agree they could have tried a female host. Has there been any solo ones on Australian game/quiz shows apart from Cornelia Frances & Jennifer Byrne? I don’t remember any, I think it’s time to move on shake things up a bit.

  3. I was under the impression that contestants only got their winning money if the show aired? stand to be corrected so if true they wouldn’t want to delete them!

  4. Bradley Walsh might be good for banter but his pacing is awful. He sleepwalks through the cash builder rounds. If I were a contestant on the UK version and then saw how many more questions AOK fit in I’d be dirty.

  5. While I found Andrew O’Keefe to be the perfect host on Deal or No Deal, I don’t think he ever really worked on The Chase interested to see how Larry does.

  6. Will be interesting to see how quickly there erase AOK episodes from the running order. I’d imagine they’ll want to screen all new episodes, but there is repeat value in them too so could AOK episodes remain on Fridays for the time being until they’ve built up enough with Larry.

    Usually these sort of shows film 4 episodes in a day, so whether they reduce that to accomodate The Morning Show – ultimately in the long run he probably only needs to film 4 a week to maintain the flow but realistically they’ll be periods of the year where they film more and it’s probably better to give him a couple of weeks leave to get the first 40 in the can.

  7. I maintain that Larry should have been the host from day 1, but I can understand why frequent travel to Melbourne would have been a deal-breaker if he was even considered originally.

    Bradley Walsh’s style is a key component of the success of the British version. Andrew’s immense general knowledge detracted from the Chaser’s role as the all-knowing supposedly unconquerable champion, whereas I think Larry is more able to run a Bradley-esque role of barracking for the contestants by being as much of an underdog against the chasers as the contestants, and playfully antagonising the chasers when they get a question wrong.

      1. 11 years on UK TV and another year to go on his current contract. Can’t be that terrible. He’s entertaining, and that’s what keeps the punters watching, and his bosses at ITV happy. Also one of ITV’s most popular shows. That says a lot.

  8. This isn’t the worst choice they could’ve made but it’s a bit uninspired. I personally would’ve preferred to see a woman take on quizmaster duties as it’s already a very male-heavy show. But as long as Larry can keep up the pace of the Aussie version (compared to the UK’s) I’ll still watch.

  9. Larry is a great host as was Andrew. I’m sure the show won’t miss a beat.
    7 must be happy to finally have a gameshow host showing great enthusiasm for the role. (Andrew and Grant Denyer were both on the record as saying gameshow host wasn’t their preferred occupation)

  10. Good choice, but he’s on air til 11:30 with the morning show, it’s going to be long days for Larry, I’m guessing he’ll take some time off from TMS to film Chase eps?

    1. It’s not ‘live’ at 5pm. I believe they record (as they used to) a week or two eps over a weekend. With ‘hour’s now being 40 mins, and given the format, they should be knocking over at least a week of eps in one day.

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