The Chase !!
So on Thursday 17th February, the edition of teatime quiz The Chase I appeared in as a contestant was shown on TV. I've been an avid viewer of this quiz since it started airing in the summer of 2009 as ITV's many attempts to rival BBC's teatime ratings winner, The Weakest Link. The Chase has been one of the few ITV shows to successfully challenge Anne Robinson's ratings so has been commissioned for longer runs.
I sent in an application on a whim last summer when the second series aired and spent probably 5 minutes filling in the form but was invited for an audition at the Hyatt Hotel in Birmingham City Centre. My fellow auditionees all seemed to be quiz show veterans - one even appeared on Bob's Full House which was about 25 years ago !!! So, faced with this competition, I thought I had no chance. The audition basically was chatting about yourself and answering some questions. Anyway, when it all ended, we had to wait a few minutes and then all of us were told we were on the shortlist it be on the show. For a full series, 160 contestants would be needed and the shortlist was about 250. We were handed factsheets with various dates for recording during September, October and November and told to be ready to be contacted if successful. Presumably the spread of recording dates was to fit in with the availability of the show's host, Bradley Walsh, who is also a main cast member of the UK version of Law & Order.
Anyway, most of these dates came and went with me hearing nothing - I had various plans for weekends in November (when the last recording blocks were to take place) so I took the bull by the horns and emailed the reserachers to see if was going to appear or not. Anyway one of them gave me a ring and said I was going to appear and could I come down to London for the final recording date in November, which I could.
Francis came down with me, but he had to spend the day going round London on his own as The Chase has no studio audience - it's recorded in what seems like a miniscule studio in The London Studios complex on the South Bank, next to the National Theatre. My fellow team-mates seemed a nice bunch and everyone did as much as they could to put us at our ease including the make-up girls who I had a good gossip with !!
Once we got in the studio it all seemed a bit more "real" but everyone was still lovely and we met our host, Bradley Walsh, who was great despite having already recorded one show that day with another after us.
I won't spoil proceedings for those who haven't yet watched it but, watching the episode back, we did better than I thought at the time !!
The episode can be viewed online here :-
http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=213907
Sadly, this won't work for those outside the UK but I am working on it being on YouTube so stay tuned !!!!
I sent in an application on a whim last summer when the second series aired and spent probably 5 minutes filling in the form but was invited for an audition at the Hyatt Hotel in Birmingham City Centre. My fellow auditionees all seemed to be quiz show veterans - one even appeared on Bob's Full House which was about 25 years ago !!! So, faced with this competition, I thought I had no chance. The audition basically was chatting about yourself and answering some questions. Anyway, when it all ended, we had to wait a few minutes and then all of us were told we were on the shortlist it be on the show. For a full series, 160 contestants would be needed and the shortlist was about 250. We were handed factsheets with various dates for recording during September, October and November and told to be ready to be contacted if successful. Presumably the spread of recording dates was to fit in with the availability of the show's host, Bradley Walsh, who is also a main cast member of the UK version of Law & Order.
Anyway, most of these dates came and went with me hearing nothing - I had various plans for weekends in November (when the last recording blocks were to take place) so I took the bull by the horns and emailed the reserachers to see if was going to appear or not. Anyway one of them gave me a ring and said I was going to appear and could I come down to London for the final recording date in November, which I could.
Francis came down with me, but he had to spend the day going round London on his own as The Chase has no studio audience - it's recorded in what seems like a miniscule studio in The London Studios complex on the South Bank, next to the National Theatre. My fellow team-mates seemed a nice bunch and everyone did as much as they could to put us at our ease including the make-up girls who I had a good gossip with !!
Once we got in the studio it all seemed a bit more "real" but everyone was still lovely and we met our host, Bradley Walsh, who was great despite having already recorded one show that day with another after us.
I won't spoil proceedings for those who haven't yet watched it but, watching the episode back, we did better than I thought at the time !!
The episode can be viewed online here :-
http://www.itv.com/itvplayer/video/?Filter=213907
Sadly, this won't work for those outside the UK but I am working on it being on YouTube so stay tuned !!!!