Viewers of The Chase were left fuming within moments of the latest episode, as two contestants opted for the lower cash offers.
The popular ITV quiz show aired on Thursday (March 6), with host Bradley Walsh introducing a fresh quartet ready to test their trivia prowess against Chaser Paul Sinha.
Carol was first in line and managed to secure four correct answers during her cash builder round. Despite encouragement from her fellow contestants to play for the amount she’d earned, the 60-year-old chose to take a step back for a safer £1,000.
Carol justified her choice to Bradley by saying: “I’m going to go for the one. I want to enjoy the whole experience, I want the best chance of getting back there.”
She breezed through to the final chase without dropping a single question. However, the audience’s irritation peaked when Fuad, the second contestant, followed suit.
After only answering two questions correctly, he faced a decision between £2,000, a tempting £50,000, and a mere £500, reports the Express.
The primary school teacher ultimately admitted: “It’s quite a tough decision but I really want to get back to my team so I think I’m going to pick the lower.”
Even Paul couldn’t help but make a remark about the team’s choices as he said: “What an exciting team this is turning out to be.” This series of events led disgruntled viewers to vent their frustrations on social media platforms.
One exasperated viewer vented: “No!! £1,000 LOW OFFER TAKEN BY SEAT1!!! Why are ITV still casting useless players who opt for the stupid meaningless Low Offer! Come on now! This has been happening episode by episode recently! When is this nonsense going to stop? This is completely unacceptable!”
Another frustrated fan couldn’t take it anymore, stating: “Right that’s it I’m turning off,” while another was even more blunt: “Take your £500 and shove it up your a**e.”
Echoing the sentiment, a fourth irate viewer lamented: “No!!! I actually cannot believe this! £500 LOW OFFER!!! That’s Two in a Row!!! Why do these useless people do this! Just Why? Please stop casting these people who take the LOW Offers ITV! This is too much for everyone to handle! Please make it stop! I HAVE HAD ENOUGH!”
Despite the controversy, Fuad managed to reach the final chase, bringing the team’s total to a paltry £1,500. Victoria, the third contestant to face chaser Paul, performed well in the cash builder round, securing £7,000.
However, she failed to bring the money home after being caught by Paul. Anthony, the last contestant, only answered two questions correctly in his cash builder.
Paul gave him a low offer of £1,497, but the 28-year-old took the high offer of £90,000. In a nail-biting head-to-head, Anthony had the chaser one step behind him the entire time.
In the end, he made it through to the final chase as Bradley commented: “You have saved ITV.” With hit stellar performance, the whole team were now playing for a total of £91,500.
Setting a high score of 16 for Paul to beat, the chase star was impressed and described their performance as ‘brilliant’. Sadly, they were no match for the ITV star as he caught them with 18 seconds remaining.
The Chase is available to watch on ITVX