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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Katherine Heslop

The Chase viewers in awe as contestant all have names from The Simpsons

This evening's episode of The Chase paid tribute to another loved, if slightly longer running, family TV show.

Tonight's four quiz contestants were Marge, Bart, Maggie and Lisa, all names of members of The Simpsons family, who have been appearing on our screens since 1989, in the animated American show named after them.

Noticing the connection, fans of the ITV quiz show took to social media to share their excitement and make light of the situation.

One fan said: "Contestants on The Chase tonight... Marge, Bart, Maggie and Lisa... this must have been on purpose?!"

Another said: "There's no way these people were randomly picked. Some staff member's a fan."

Contestants on The Chase all had names from The Simpsons this afternoon (ITV)

One comedy fan, referencing characters in Family Guy, a cartoon often compared to The Simpsons, said: "What's next, Peter, Lois, Meg & Chris?"

Another person said: "Tomorrow on The Chase we'll have Ringo, Paul, John and George," referencing band members in The Beatles.

One person admitted they didn't realise The Simpsons theme until the end of the episode, and another only clocked when their ten-year-old pointed it out.

Some viewers pointed out that Homer, arguably the main character in The Simpsons and father to Lisa, Maggie and Bart, had been left out.

Bradley Walsh hosts The Chase on ITV (ITV)

One quizzer said: "How could they not have a Homer in the line up. It's an outrage," while another said: "Presumably if Homer hadn't been knocked out in the earlier round they wouldn't have been caught."

However, it was pointed out that Homer is not a common name in The UK.

One person said: "Well cmon to be fair there's not many Homers in the UK"

The Simpsons family have been on our screens since 1989 (Fox Broadcasting Company)

While host Bradley Walsh joked about the names as he introduced the team, he admitted in 2019 that he had never seen an episode of The Simpsons, despite over 700 having been broadcast.

In the episode, shown in May, the presenter asked one contestant: "The first full episode of what TV animation aired in the US on 17th December, 1989?"

She correctly chose The Simpsons, leading to Bradley's confession.

He said: "Really, 89, wow. Never seen an episode of it. Have you?"

Remembering this, one Twitter user said: "I bet Bradley 'never seen it' Walsh didn't have a clue what was going on."

In comparison to The Simpsons, The Chase has been on air for a relatively short time, since 2009.

The Chase airs every weekday at 5pm.

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