Fans of The Chase joked a former Liverpool player had fallen on ‘hard times’ last night as a footballing lookalike took part in the ITV quiz show.
The likeness between contestant Chris from Chester and ex Reds defender John Arne Riise was immediately picked up by viewers, causing the Norwegian’s name to trend for hours after yesterday’s episode.
Some fans even joked the resemblance between the Merseyside veteran and the burly teacher was so striking that Chris should have appeared on the celebrity version of the teatime show instead.
Others thought it was hilarious the similarity was drawing so much attention on Twitter.
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“Just seen John Arne Riise on the chase, times must be hard,” laughed one fan.
“Fella on the chase there looks like a fat John Arne Riise,” remarked another.
shouldn’t “John Arne Riise” be on the celeb version of #TheChase
— Geoffrey Gibson BSc (@geoffreygibson1) February 7, 2019
“Logged on and John Arne Riise is trending because there was a lad that looked a bit like him on The Chase today,” a third chuckled.
And a fourth guffawed: “John Arne Riise 3rd top trend in the UK just cos there was a ginger guy on the chase hahahahahahah.”
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But despite cheeky comments suggesting Chris looked like a heavier version of Riise, the retired footballer still joined in with the banter on social media.
Riise showed he can take a joke by commenting on the likeness with a couple of crying laughing emojis by quote tweeting a video shared by ITV of host Bradley Walsh bidding farewell to Chris.
And although Chris had captured the hearts and minds of early evening telly viewers, he did not take home the prize payout – even though he added £8,000 to the team’s kitty.
The broadcaster captioned their original tweet: “Unfortunately John Arne couldn’t Riise* to the challenge of The Chase… AKA Chris from Chester.”
– The Chase airs on ITV, weekdays, from 5pm
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