The Chase star Shaun Wallace has opened up on backlash he received for getting a question wrong, leading for calls for him to be sacked from the ITV show.
Shaun – known as The Dark Destroyer on The Chase – got one question wrong during an episode, meaning the challengers won the cash prize. But instead of being happy for the team, Shaun has revealed viewers turned on him.
Speaking on This Morning earlier this year, he told Dermot O’Leary and Josie Gibson: “Every Achilles has its heel, mine is soaps.
The Chase star Shaun Wallace’s mishap
“I was one question away from winning a Chase episode and they asked me what colour is Marge Simpson’s hair.
“If you’ve never watched The Simpsons like I’ve never watched The Simpsons, you’re not going to know.”
His co-star Anne Hegerty interjected: “That’s really not a soap question, Shaun.”
Shaun replied: “Soaps, animation, whatever. Same thing to me. I got such a backlash from social media, ‘You should be sacked, you’re rubbish,’ but questions are only easy if you know the answers.”
Anne added: “We all get those backlashes and we all just ignore them.”
But Shaun has not let the backlash make him any less grateful for the position he’s in.
“I’ll always stop and take photographs or I sometimes send photos to mothers and grandmothers,” he said. “Because for me I’m always grateful of the fact that the public make me famous and it’s one way of saying thank you.”
Viewers have taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, over the years to defend Shaun.
One wrote: “Baffling how Shaun can win SIX games in a row then lose ONLY one and people immediately call for him to be sacked. Bit daft that.”
Do The Chasers get on?
Shaun also opened up on the relationship he and his fellow Chasers have with one another.
He said: “We really rate and respect each other and we really get on really well.
“The six of us are really good friends and we love and respect each other.”
This Morning airs weekdays at 10am and The Chase airs from 5ppm on ITV1 and ITVX.
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