EXCLUSIVE: One player of The Chase has now shared her experience of being on set, and how she was surprised by what host Bradley Walsh was like
A contestant on The Chase has shared what goes on behind the scenes of the ITV hit.
The beloved gameshow, hosted by Bradley Walsh, has entertained quiz lovers since 2009. We’ve seen some incredible moments over the years, such as when contestant Eden managed to win £75,000 on his own and host Bradley couldn’t stop laughing at the name of German athlete Fanny Chmelar.
Contestant Nicola Crawley tried her luck on the show in 2009 and managed to rack up an impressive £8,000 in her cash builder round. Sadly, the 50-year-old fertility therapist went home empty handed after losing to Chaser Paul Sinha.
Speaking on behalf of FruitySlots.com, Nicola has revealed what it was like being on the show, and what surprised her about host Bradley when the cameras were off. Nicola also said Chaser Paul couldn’t resist teasing a player for taking the low offer – in scenes that weren’t aired on the telly.
Asked if there were any funny moments that didn’t make it to air, she told Daily Star: “There were a few moments during the recording where Paul Sinha playfully teased the first contestant for opting to take the lower offer. These interactions were captured on camera, but not all of them made it into the final edit of the episode that was aired.”
She also said they had to re-shoot a couple of moments as Bradley fluffed his lines during the recording – something that is to be expected, even from the most experienced TV hosts. “Bradley Walsh stumbled over his lines a few times during the recording,” Nicola said, “which led to some takes needing to be re-recorded in order to get everything right for the final take!”
Nicola found Paul to be “lovely” and said he never made fun of anyone for getting a question wrong. “I played against Paul Sinha and he was lovely,” she said. “I was the second person to face him and the guy before me had taken a surprisingly low offer, so Paul ribbed him a little to lighten the mood.
“He put us all at ease. He never made fun of us if we got a question wrong. He really surprised me because I wasn’t sure how he’d be when the cameras weren’t rolling but he was consistently lovely.”
The therapist said host Bradley was surprisingly quiet when the cameras weren’t rolling. Asked if he’s just like he appears on TV, she said: “No, he’s quite different when the cameras stop rolling. He’s naturally very funny but between takes, he was just taking calls and drinking coffee. He was quite quiet.”
However, Bradley did make a point of coming over to chat to the contestants before the episode. “He came on to the set and went straight to speak to a runner,” she said. “He didn’t look at the contestants at first but then came over to us.”
The presenter gave the team some warm words of encouragement, telling them he was on their side. Nicola added: “He placed his hand on the desk and said: ‘You’re the best pub quiz team in the land and I’m your fifth member. Let’s smash this’. He also said: ‘Don’t call me Bradley, it’s not Sunday’. He wanted us to call him Brad.”
Nicola’s day started around 8am and finished by midday – and a producer asked them some trial questions to get them warmed up before filming. “They put the contestants up in a hotel the night before and picked us up from reception,” she explained. “The producers took us to the green room and started asking us trial questions to get us used to the format.
“We were told to bring five outfits and they inspected them to make sure no one clashed or was wearing anything with a logo or something offensive. We had to do our hair and make-up before but we got it touched up again. We started filming at 10am and were done by midday.”
Nicola admitted she was surprised by how similar the studio looked to how it does on TV as it looks like a warehouse, but admitted it was rather cold before Bradley came out and the heaters came on. Producers also advised them to stay off of social media for a “few days” after their episode aired and warned them about trolls.
“They warned us about trolls and how they can be quite personal,” she explained, before admitting she couldn’t resist taking a look. “I did look online because I was curious and actually only saw positive comments.”
For those keen on applying to The Chase and trying their luck, Nicola has shed some light on what the application process was like for her. “It was lengthy,” she said. “I applied through ITV’s website but it took six months for me to hear back.”
“I got invited to an assessment day in Birmingham where me and some other hopefuls had to play a mock game and answer questions to test our knowledge. I think the producers were looking for different characters and also abilities.”
Want all the biggest Showbiz and TV news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our free Daily Star Showbiz newsletter.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
