18 LISTENER MARCH 10 2018
I
t’s time to meet the
Chaser. As fans of TVNZ
1’s freakishly popular
UK television quiz show
The Chase will know,
this is the moment
when the urgent music
ramps up, the set turns
red and the formidable quiz
professional of the day
appears, as if swaggering
out of the flame-licked
jaws of Hell. Mark “The
Beast” Labbett, Paul “Sin-
nerman” Sinha, Anne
“The Governess” Hegerty,
Jenny “The Vixen” Ryan
... the Chasers’ nicknames
are in keeping with a vibe
that’s part Mastermind, part
pantomime.
Today, I’m up against
Shaun Wallace, also
known as The Dark
Destroyer, Legal Eagle,
Grumpy Drawers and,
when host Bradley Walsh
is feeling particularly
carnivorous, Bowling
Ball Head. It’s after 10pm
my time when we finally
speak. It’s a Chaser’s job
to be a little intimidating.
Never mind. Wallace is on
the phone from London,
so I can’t see his trademark
withering sneer – and I’m
asking the questions.
“Oh, it’s all in good
fun,” he says, of The
Chase’s trash-talk. He
speaks in an authorita-
tive baritone honed in
the courtroom. He’s a
part-time barrister in real life
and a man unafraid to bust
out a falsetto chorus of James
Blunt’s You’re Beautiful or a bad
Michael Caine impression,
the better to elucidate a quiz
question. He understands the
theatre of The Chase: “A funny,
entertaining host who sides
with the contestants versus
a big bad mean Chaser,” he
explains happily. “It’s a perfect
mix for a successful product.”
The show can be comedy
gold, largely thanks to thetendency of Walsh, a come-
dian also known as sometime
Coronation Street wide boy
Danny Baldwin, to be reduced
to gurning, whimpering
hysterics by the show’s more
innuendo-laced questions. His
epic struggles for composure
have even stony-faced Chaserscracking up.
“Absolutely,” says Wallace.
“What made the show really
popular is that Fanny Chmelar
question.” Ah, yes. The name
of the German alpine skier
destroyed Walsh. “I was in the
studio and I was very sur-
prised they let that through.”
Weren’t we all. “I think that
question alone made the show
a success, because it allowed
the question-setters to ask
innuendo-type questions that
will make Bradley crack up.”The show needs some
laughs. It’s a gruelling format.
Teams of four contestants
undergo individual rounds
where they try to amass
money and then survive a
chase by the Chaser. Winnings
can disappear in a final battle
between the team’s survivorsand the Chaser. Many leave
without a bean. “They do,
but in saying that, there are
contestants who do win and
win big. Who would watch a
show if the Chasers won all
the time? Nobody. And when
we lose, we lose because of the
merits of the contestants.”
He possibly feels the need
to emphasise this because
of such tabloid headlines as,
“The Chase viewers utterly fed
up with show amid fresh fix
claims”. Wallace found himselfunder fire after one show on
which he fluffed apparently
easy questions.
“It’s either fixed or we’re
useless and should be sacked,”
he sighs. “They don’t take into
account the fact that it just
may be that the contestants on
that day were better than us.”
Once, asked what island
New York is on, Wallace
replied “Staten”. How
does that happen? “Yeah,
sometimes the brain
and the mouth are not
engaged at the same time.
Sometimes we try to jump
in and answer instead of
listening to the question.
Obviously I’m conscious of
the time, especially in the
final chase. So we do make
the occasional slip-up and
it’s not because I want the
contestants to win. It’s
because, you know, I’m
human and I can make a
mistake.”H
e seems very amiable
for a big bad mean
Chaser called The
Dark Destroyer. “It was
Bradley who gave us all
our nicknames.” Although
when Wallace joined Lab-
bett and Hegerty late last
year to film the Austral-
ian version of The Chase,
his brand underwent a
minor adjustment. There
he’ll be known as just
The Destroyer. Why is
that? “Well, I don’t know
the reason and I’ve not really
asked. But I would imagine
because of the fact that ‘dark’
may be somewhat sensitive.”
Right. The UK version of the
show is not big on sensitivity.
“She’s really cold,” Bradley
Walsh will muse as he intro-
duces The Governess, or Frosty
Knickers, as he sometimes
prefers, “but that’s often the
problem with old boilers.”
Dear, oh dear. The Chase
UK remains defiantly un-PC.
“Indeed. But I’ve never beenQUIZ SHOWS
WEEF