The Chase fans left enraged as stars take back 'lowest pot ever'

Fans of the ITV quiz show The Chase were left fuming after Thursday's (18 September) episode saw a team take away a shockingly low prize pot. Viewers branded the episode 'terrible' when the cautious team refused to take risks and only banked £6,000.

On the episode, host Bradley Walshinvited Callum, Heath, Roz and Nigel to play against Darragh 'The Menace' Ennis. Like always, the show saw the contestants individually attempt to build up their prize pot by first answering as many questions correctly as they could in a minute, with each answer adding £1,000 to their fund. The team only managed to bag £3,000.

In the second round, the Head-to-Head, the contestants had to face off against 'The Chaser' to see if they can reach the end of the board before the pro quizzer catches them. Correct answers move you further along the board, but players can start closer to the end by taking lower money offers. Or they can start higher, risking their place on the board but opening up a bigger cash prize for grabs.

This team were reluctant to take risks and often chose the lower offer. In total, they only banked £6,000, despite having £11,000 at one point. Fans were left fuming by the lack of risk taken and jumped on X to share their disappointment. "Three people back with only 6 grand in the pot? Why bother?” one wrote.

Another chimed in to say that people often "play for more money on Pointless these days". Pointless, which sees teams of two compete to give the most obscure answer to questions, has a starting jackpot of £1,000 and is widely known for not providing a large monetary prize.

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More fans added their two pence, with one claiming: “You get more money sitting outside your local Co-op with a begging bowl than going on this programme."

Another slammed recent episodes of The Chase as "terrible" and asked how long they would be going on for. “£1K Low Offer taken! With a £3K Cashbuilder!! How much longer are these terrible episodes going to go on for?" they asked. "Why are we left with contestants who perform poorly in the Cashbuilder and take the stupid Low Offer! What's going on here?”

Contestants on The Chase are given the opportunity to win large amounts of money, as proven by the fact that the single highest win on a daytime gameshow for a solo player was won on the ITV gameshow. In 2021, Eden Nash took home £75,000. As Bradley congratulated the then 20-year-old, Eden said he was just going to "look at his bank account" rather than do anything with the money.

The show has also seen big wins from groups, with some taking over £100,000. In 2023, trio Bryan, Laura and Julia made it through to the final and took home £120,000.

However, despite some big wins, the show has also been home to some big losses. In a 2023 celebrity special, Joe Sugg won a staggering £201,000 for the prize pot in his Head-to-Head. But in a devastating blow, when he and his teammates were later asked to say who starred in Stepbrothers, they said Will Farrell rather than Will Ferrell and lost everything but £1,000 each for their chosen charities.

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