The Chase star Darragh Ennis has opened up about a controversial moment on the show that saw him hit headlines across the country.
The 44-year-old was training to become one of the Chasers when he appeared on the hit ITV show as a contestant. Having racked up a substantial amount of money for his team, Darragh saw his fellow quizzers making unusual moves.
He says his three teammates took low or negative offers from the Chaser, something that “never happens”. Darragh was astonished after the show aired and his performance was trending at number one in the UK on Twitter, despite MPs debating Article 50 and Brexit at the same time.
Speaking on the Bach and Arthur podcast, Darragh explained: “People care way too much, that is one thing I’ve realised. So I went on the show and I did quite well and my team all took the low offer, which never happens.
“I went first and got some good money, put £9,000 into the bank and the others all took either low offers or negative offers. And people absolutely bonkers about this.
“It was the number one trending thing on Twitter in the UK on the day they were debating Article 50 about leaving the European Union in Parliament, which goes to show the priorities people in the country have that I was the bigger trend, it was a huge controversy.”
Ennis says people were being “incredibly mean” about his fellow contestants which prompted him to “wade in”. He added: “I said ‘look, leave them alone, it’s really hard on these people’.”
He went on to explain that you become close with your fellow competitors on a game show as you spend “most of a day” with the group. He also says many of the online trolls won’t realise “how hard” it is to be “intimated” on a TV quiz show.
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He added: “I had no ill-feeling for them but it kind of just blew up. But at that point I was already in training to be the next chaser, which people didn’t know but they were saying ‘you should contact them,’ ‘you should be the next chaser, you were really great,’ but I obviously had to keep my lips sealed.”
Darragh’s team eventually walked away with £6,300 having beaten Paul Sinha. The performance saw fans even setting up a Go Fund Me page to help Darragh get back some of the cash his team lost.
The Chaser however says he feels the money is “not real” until after the final round. The added: “The big thing that a lot of people don’t understand about the show is that the money isn’t real until it’s won.
“It’s just numbers on a screen. It’s pretend. Until a team wins, there is no money.
“The money is in a big bank account for ITV or something. Until you win, it’s nothing. So people get up on the offers and negatives but none of it matters, it’s only winning that counts.”
Darragh, who now goes by the moniker The Menace on the hit show, revealed he received £1,000 from the Go Fund Me appeal, but decided to give the money to charity instead. He added: “I just thought that was a better home for it than me.”
