THE Chase star Shaun Wallace, aka The Dark Destroyer, has been slammed by fans for wasting time as he froze for 15 seconds while trying to answer a question.
Bradley Walsh welcomed four new contestants to battle it out for a chance to win a whopping cash prize.
Contestants Terri, Diego, Claire, and Jack were introduced to The Chase by Bradley and faced Shaun in a competition for the big cash prize.
During the final round, as he went head to head with Jack and Diego, things didn’t exactly go according to plan for the 63-year-old quiz genius.
One question left the chaser speechless and running out of time as players – who had secured a prize fund of £15,000 and correctly answered 16 questions- gave him a run for his money.
As the show reached its climax, viewers were left fuming.
Many suggested that Shaun had thrown the game after he froze for 15 seconds over an “easy” sports question.
The quizzer failed to answer one question correctly and was left with only 50 seconds remaining on the clock to answer the rest.
During the episode, Bradley asked, “In tennis, each point begins with a what?” which left Shaun scratching his head for several seconds.
Shaun then stuttered: “Erm…,” as he struggled to come up with an answer which prompted the contestants to cut in with “serve”.
With that answer, Jack and Diego won the show and walked away with a cash prize.
Taking to X(Twitter), one viewer wrote: “Never seen Shaun do this bad #thechase.”
Another added: “#TheChase The Dark Destroyer’s wheels fell off tonight, unbelievable and beautiful to watch.”
“What a farce #thechase,” a third remarked.
“I seriously thought my TV had froze after the tennis question #Darkdestroyer #TheChase”, someone else said.
Elsewhere, Claire, from Manchester, managed to stack up an impressive £7,000 during the cash builder round, but things got intense when she faced the quizmaster.
As Shaun walked out and took his seat, he teased that she would be the next contender to be eliminated.
Addressing Claire, the chaser said: “Hello Claire, right, I’m going to knock you out.”
Claire fired back and said: “Well, I’m going to knock you out!”
The ITV host quickly intervened as he assured the contestant that the quizmaster was referring to the competition and had no intention of having a physical fight.
Bradley said: “He doesn’t mean physically, he means in the game. [As if you said] ‘I’ll knock you out!”
The 63-year-old then mocked fellow presenter Harry Hill by shouting “FIGHT!” as he used to do on his TV show, Harry Hill’s TV Burp.
Unfortunately, Claire was out of luck and could not defeat the Chaser, so she was sent home.
The Chase airs weekdays on ITV at 5pm.
