The Chase fans echoed Mark Labbett, also known as The Beast, when he declared that shows featuring members of the public were more “fun” than celebrity editions. One viewer of the ITV show hit back: “There’s only so much celebrity you can stomach.”
Mark had shared his views on Twitter on Friday night, writing: “Civilian versions of #beatthechasers are so much more fun imo. We have a week of them in the can for later on this year.” His post, which was punctuated by a smiling face emoji, was soon viewed almost 12,000 times – and it seemed that the opinion was a popular one.
“I always prefer the civvie episodes generally to the celebs,” one fan agreed. “To be honest, civilian versions of most shows are better. There’s only so much “celebrity” you can stomach, especially when it tends to be the same ones over and over and over again,” another chimed in.
“I don’t watch celebrity versions of any quizzes,” a third declared, explaining: “It’s all about them.” Others suggested that the sums of money won would be life-changing for ordinary members of the public, especially those on a modest income.
“Celeb versions of all quizzes (apart from House of Games) are dumbed down and I am more invested in seeing members of the public win money and change their lives,” one fan shared. Another said they would prefer to see the experts in the main hot-seat at all times, arguing: “The Chase is so much more fun than Beat The Chasers.”
However, the overall consensus on Twitter was that celebrity editions didn’t get viewers’ votes.
On Friday night’s episode, Beat The Chasers saw Mark – along with Anne “The Governess” Hegerty, Shaun “The Dark Destroyer” Wallace, Jenny “The Vixen” Ryan, Paul “The Sinnerman” Sinha and Darragh “The Menace” Ennis – poised to defeat civilians.
One contestant, George, was able to thwart four Chasers, who ran out of time on the clock as he sailed to victory and won £50,000.
However, Shaun argued that he could have gone further and beaten all six of them, making a ten-fold increase on his win.
