I’m a question writer on ITV’s The Chase – we write HUNDREDS a day and try to sneak in as many rude words as possible
ONE of the question writers on ITV’s juggernaut hit The Chase has admitted they try to make the show as innuendo-heavy as possible.
The teatime ITV programme has seen its fair share of awkward moments with host Bradley Walsh forced to read out questions with explicit connotations or those jam-packed with innuendos.
Whilst this may often appear as a genuine coincidence, one of the show’s crew has now confessed it is all meticulously planned in order to “push what is decent”.
Fraser Cameron, one of the quiz hit’s question compilers, opened up to RadioTimes about just how the saucier questions are formulated.
In an interview with the publication, he said: “[Bradley] reads the multiple-choice questions for the first time on air, so his reaction is genuine shock.
“We try to push what is decent at teatime by using words like plums or beaver, or slightly rude words in strange contexts.
“If we’re writing funny options, they’re usually option C, as the last punch line at the end.
“Bradley is one of the main reasons why the show’s so popular — he can take a very normal-sounding question and turn it into comedy gold.”
The backstage secrets of the ITV show are often kept under lock and key but as the show celebrates an incredible 15 years on air, the show’s team have now opened up on just exactly how they keep the programme ticking over.
Admitting the seven-person strong team writes hundreds of questions a day, Fraser said: “[We] aim to write 30 questions each every day — more than 200 questions a day.”
One of his colleagues is Olav Bjortomt, a four-time World Quizzing Champion.
Fraser went on to add: “It’s easy to write a very hard quiz, but The Chase isn’t about that.
“It’s supposed to have universal appeal. People overestimate how good the public are on subjects: the average person is good with capital cities, but not art or astronomy.”
Just last week, show history was achieved when contestants on the programme earned a bumper jackpot.
It was a nail biting finish as two aspiring quizzers reached the final round to face off against Paul Sinha aka The Sinnerman.
A whopping £100,000 was at stake, meaning each player would take home £50,000 if they won – the largest prize in the history of The Chase.
However, the pair only managed to get 16 questions correct in the final round, meaning that a few pushbacks would be needed.
As the round progressed, there were multiple opportunities to push the Sinnerman back, but only two were executed.
With 14 seconds on the clock, Bradley asked his last question to the quiz expert.
However, the Chaser answered the last question over a trading term incorrectly, meaning Bradley’s team had one final chance at victory.
Amid another pushback mishap, the team managed to claim victory as Paul was left with just ONE second to answer his final question.
“That was close,” remarked Bradley as a visibly shocked Ian had tears in his eyes.
“Six attempts to push back, only two of them executed out of those six, chaser needed [just] one.”
Before now, the biggest individual win was £80,000, when a man called Dan defeated Chaser Jenny Ryan in August 2022.