The Chase contestants walked home with an impressive jackpot prize at the end of Friday’s instalment of the ITV show and a heated final round with Mark Labbett.
A team of Rebecca, 40, Philippa, 19, Joel, 34 and Paul, 57 faced off with professional quizzer Mark Labbett, or The Beast, on the latest nail-biting run at a cash prize.
While Paul failed to make it through to the final, his three teammates went on to take £17,000 to split between them at the end of the programme.
The final was a tense showdown as Mark was faced with catching the team in 20 questions, but when he got a series of questions wrong and seemed to let the tension get to him, he was pushed back by his opponents and ultimately failed to catch them.
At the end of the show he said: “I’ve got to take my thumping like a man. Well played, you absolutely deserved to win. Well played.”
Host Bradley Walsh weighed in saying: “Well deserved and the Chaser taking it on the chin. Rebecca, Philippa and Joel go home with £17,000 between them. See? It can be done. Even The Beast can be beaten.”
But during the tensely fought showdown, many viewers took to Twitter to say that The Beast seemed to have “crumbled” under the pressure.
One described him as “rattled” as another wrote: “Mark is having a mare here hahaha. Spurs winning a European final hahahahahahhahah that'll be the day.”
Another tweeted: “He's given up. Won't be surprised if he storm's off” as another said: “Aww the chaser crumbled.”
A fellow social media user wrote: “Beastie has given up” as another said: “What a stinker for Mark” and a third wrote: “What a thrashing.
A fellow fan concluded: “What a beating for the Beast. He wasn’t even close. Don’t see that very often. Well played, team.”
Several fans of the nightly ITV game show took to twitter to congratulate the surprise win, with one writing: “That's one happy team. Well done Joel, Philippa, Rebecca.”
This came after earlier in the programme The Chase viewers were left distracted during Friday’s instalment by the age of one of the contestants.
As the show kicked off and the contestants introduced themselves to host Bradley Walsh, many viewers took to Twitter to debate whether contestant Joel looked his age.
While one wrote: “34?! Paul looks way younger!!!!” fellow viewers thought Joel looked wise beyond his years, with another writing: “This guy could be any age from 30 to 70.”
Another wrote: “Does anybody else think Joel looks older than 34?” as another cheekily chimed in saying: “The years mustn't have been kind to him if he is only 34?”
