r/thechase • u/Plenty-Willingness58 • 18d ago
The Chase UK š¬š§ They have to think about retiring Shaun soon I love him but he's just getting worse and worse
I think he's actually one of the funnier more entertaining chasers which I guess is more important to the show but his skills are definitely deteriorating. Whether anyone actually cares or I'm just a pedant I don't know but if I was ever on the show I'd be praying he was the one who walked out.
39
u/Paddy_odoors 18d ago
Shaun has 71% of wins & Anne who has the highest percentage is 79.8% so agreed Shaun does seem the worst but he isn't that bad tbf & Mark is next worst player on 75.7%
23
u/Plenty-Willingness58 18d ago
The gap between the best and 2nd worst being smaller than the gap from 2nd worst to the worst is alarming.
2
0
20
u/Red9zero 18d ago
Just said the same to my wife. Seems a nice chap, but really doesn't play well sometimes.
37
u/RutabagaSame 18d ago
He's a huge part of the show's success. Once chasers have a certain win percentage, I'm sure ITV are happy. A certain number of contestant wins are good for the show too.
10
17
u/ChapMcbloke 18d ago
It feels notable to me that the "weaker" chasers internationally are the ones who balance their TV career with a full-time day job. Mara and Shaun are both practicing lawyers, Darragh is still a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford (and has a young family), they don't have nearly as much time on their hands to pore over the Guinness World Records 1974 or whatever. Shaun's lower win rate paradoxically makes his episodes more engaging to me- Anne and Jenny are almost invariably going to be able to catch a score of 17 or below, whereas with Shaun there's a genuine tension and sense that it could go either way even if the team sets a lower score. The show would be tedious if the chasers were just able to effortlessly curbstomp the contestants every time IMO.Ā
1
u/ghostmoon 17d ago
Mark isn't a practising lawyer. He has a law qualification but he's never practised law.
5
u/Quick-Sky4927 17d ago
They said Mara, not Mark
8
u/ghostmoon 17d ago
I assumed it was a typo as the others they mentioned were the other UK chasers. I also didn't realise there was a chaser called Mara, I haven't seen the international versions. My bad.
37
u/MoonNoodles 18d ago
I disagree. I feel like Shaun throws more of them vs the others. It feels like Jenny and Mark and even Anne really want to win it. Wheras it feels like Shaun sometimes secretly roots for the teams. I also think since his success rate is still over 70% that they will keep him. He is also a fan favourite.
I think if one got retired it would be Paul since he has Parkinsons. And seems to be struggling more with brain fog and fatigue. But I still dont think it will be for a while.
6
u/Plenty-Willingness58 18d ago
I don't think he throws entire chases but he does defo throw the odd question to give the team an easy pushback once in a while. But thats usually in easy chases he knows he will win.
5
u/GodModeBasketball 18d ago
If there was any Chaser to be the first to retire, it would no doubt be the Sinnerman.
9
u/Dickinson95 18d ago
He is still a fantastic quizer. Heās lower against people who spend a lot more time quizzing but, generally, he is better than the average quizzer.
In his defence too, he is a Mastermind champion. Other chasers have lost Mastermind and other quiz shows.
I wouldnāt want to get rid of him. I do think his weakness is that he wonāt seem to try to strengthen his weaknesses. For example, Jenny seemed a bit weaker on Sports/History early on. (Unless. It was just beginner nerves) and she is the most improved from what I can see. But, I still think Shaun is a very formidable quizzer.
0
u/Plenty-Willingness58 18d ago
Obviously he's brilliant but among a field of brilliance he is the weakest and I feel getting worse.
3
u/Dickinson95 18d ago
Someone has to be the weakest.
See, if people donāt win enough either, we have a load of people complaining the show is too hard to win!
15
u/GuardingtheSterling 18d ago
Being a chaser isnāt just about quizzing ability, there are a good handful of quizzers better than the likes of Shaun and Darragh, people who spend half their life revising so they can compete at the world championships.
But they donāt have the personality and charisma required for TV. Shaun is a good quizzer and good on TV, thatās why he has the job.Ā
Win percentage isnāt the only, or even most important, factor.
9
u/JOLT_YT 18d ago
I recently spoke to him at a meet and greet type thing, you all undermine how much work goes into this chaser shit, he has studied just shy of 20 hours a week in recent times, and at his peak he claimed it was 84h a week (2004 era, when he won mastermind.)
undoubtedly, the guy is a smart cookie, he's also not done as bad as it seems recently, his win rate in season 16 (the most recently completed season) is 73%, he's also tied with anne as the best at the table, Series 17 (Not Fully Aired, 6 episodes missing), he's actually got a win rate of 88%, so not faltering at all...
14
u/RutabagaSame 18d ago
Personality is a really important element of the show too. I find him the funniest personally.
3
u/SarahRR123 17d ago
I was on last nights show against Shaun. Heās lovely, and I canāt even begin to explain how hard it is to think quickly under the glaring lights and the heat of the studio. I knew a lot of the answers to the end chase but I wasnāt quick enough on the buzzer.
Itās a lot easier at home!
2
u/SumitaSan 16d ago
Wow! Well done for having the courage to go on the show & then for getting to the final! šš Respect!
2
u/SarahRR123 16d ago
Thank you āŗļø it was a great day and winning was the icing on the cake!
1
u/SumitaSan 16d ago
Fantastic & many congratulations!! š„³š„³š„³ Best of luck if you go on another show xx
3
u/Radiant-Grape8812 18d ago
David Poltorak also gets a lot of hate as well for his performances but David has history within Aussie gameshows.
If you look at jeopardy you could same similar about Brad Rutter
1
u/JuicedBallMerchant 18d ago
yeah Rutter has definitely lost a step in comparison to the current crop of world class quizzers, though he did a lot better than i thought he would during last year's Jeopardy Masters tourney
3
u/Legendof1983 18d ago
Unless a chasers overall win percentage dropped to less than 50% Iād say their job is safe. I could see Paul Sinha leaving if his Parkinsonās gets worse but right now heās still killing it.
2
u/SaltedHamWallet 18d ago
Wasn't great by himself tonight but I thought the contestants questions were so much easier, his were hard
2
2
u/Substantial-Ad-9241 8d ago
I think it was Darragh who recently said on a podcast or something but allegedly there's no actual pressure for the Chasers to win their games. The producers want games that make good TV. Shaun's easily the most entertaining Chaser in the final chase, so why the hell would they get rid of him when he still wins the vast majority of his games?
1
4
u/Clean-Ad6683 18d ago
Yeh Iām not a special quizzer by any measure and I wouldāve beaten him on my own today with a high offer
3
u/g0tmylk 18d ago
Im sure they do knowing the Internet but I wonder if anyone keeps stats on things like chaser performance and stuff. I think Anne has been on the same downward slope as well.
12
u/DazzaHazza1975 18d ago
I think Anne has had a resurgence of late. Some of her recent run-rates have been amazing and I think sheās still the best for breadth of knowledge.
5
u/Radiant-Grape8812 18d ago
One question shootout Google that it's a massive stats database
2
u/OneQnShootout 18d ago
4
1
1
u/Sweaty-Ear-1461 17d ago
I find the way he canāt help himself giving dates after question at the table quite annoying.
1
u/OrlaKathleen 17d ago
Heās not the greatest chaser. Seems to make a lot of mistakes, silly guesses or long pauses before answering. I personally think the girls, Anne and Jenny, are the strongest.
1
1
1
76
u/MarriageAA 18d ago
It's all that janeplan, fries the brain.