Beat the Chasers star Mark Labbett, aka The Beast, took to Twitter to reveal the real reason behind new Chaser Issa Schultz‘s behaviour during last night’s show.
Issa, a Chaser on the Australian version of The Chase, stepped in for Anne Hegerty at the last minute during the filming of the show back in March.
Beat the Chasers’ new Chaser
Last night saw Beat the Chasers return to ITV for its fifth season. However, there’s a key difference between this series, and the previous four.
Due to contracting Covid at the time of filming, Anne was forced to stand down from taking part in this series.
Read more: Beat the Chasers viewers complain as Anne Hegerty replaced in series return
ITV bosses then drafted in Issa to fill the gap left by The Governess.
Issa made his debut on last night’s show, joining the rest of the usual Chasers as they took on five different contestants.
However, Issa wasn’t exactly very chatty during the show – and there was good reason for this.
Beat the Chasers 2022
Mark took to Twitter last night to address why Issa had been a little “quiet” on last night’s show.
In a tweet for his 158.7k followers, he said: “In case you think @Issa25 is quiet, he got off the plane from Australia a few hours before we recorded this.”
He then added #jetlag and #BeatTheChasers to the end of his tweet.
Issa himself confirmed that this had been the case in an interview with The Sun.
He explained that within hours of getting the call from ITV, he was on a plane, flying to the UK.
“I got a last-minute call to step into The Governess’ cold and chilly shoes,” he said.
“What a delight. It was close to 1am Brisbane time – I’m a night owl and my Australia boss said to the UK bosses, ‘Just call him up, he’ll be up.’ And then I was on the plane, I think it was close to 9am that very morning,” he added.
Despite being a little quiet, as Mark described him, plenty of viewers took to Issa instantly.
“What a legend filling in for Anne, great to see @Issa25 on the show,” one viewer said.
“I thought he came across really well! Lovely sweet guy. Fits in well! Can’t wait to see more of him over this week,” another wrote.
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“Issa is cool, watched him when we were in OZ. Very smart guy indeed,” a third said.
“I like him, he seems really sweet and lovely,” another said of Issa.
However, some viewers couldn’t get over Anne’s absence.
“#BeatTheChasers not the same without @anne_hegerty,” one viewer tweeted. “Missed Anne as well not the same without her,” another said.
Beat the Chasers continues tonight (Tuesday, May 17) at 9pm on ITV and ITV Hub.
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