I won thousands on The Chase – the casting process took THREE years and producers coached us on how to act

The Sun

5 hours ago

A CONTESTANT on The Chase has revealed that it took him three whole years to complete the casting process for the quiz show.
Steven Sneade, 69, from Liverpool, was one of the contestants on the programme but getting to the TV studios was a lengthy and complicated process.
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He took part in the show in 2017 and faced-off against Chaser Paul Sinha back in 2017 and ended up walking away with £5,700.
As The Chase reaches its 16th year on air this month, Steven spoke to OLBG about his time on the programme.
In the interview, Steven said: 'It was three years from doing the online application to the show actually being broadcast. It was the very first programme I applied for.
"I applied online and heard back about a telephone interview very quickly, it was only a couple of weeks. It was very speedy.
"In the telephone interview they asked questions about my likes and dislikes, what I would do with my money, and various personal details. They asked if I watched the show.
"Then I had to answer 20 general knowledge questions, but they couldn't tell you how many you got right. At the end of the call they invited me to the in person audition."
Steven then went on to reveal how he had to face-off against 10 others in mock rounds of the show before undertaking a solo screen test.
He continued: 'There were a lot of people at the in-person interview, so we were broken up into groups of 10.
"We played a few little games to try and relax people, then we played a mock up of The Chase which went well.
"We also had to do a minute piece to camera, just introducing ourselves and saying a few bits - we had to make ourselves stand out. And there was another general knowledge test, where we had to answer another 20 questions."
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Steven went on to confirm that only two of the ten people in his group made it though to the next stage but it took a further TWO years for them to contact about moving forward with his application.
Steven said: 'After about two years I got a call and the production person they were thinking about casting me, but they asked if I had been on any other shows.
"I had been on Tipping Point, so they said they would be back in touch next year.
"They don't want people being on those two programmes so close together - apparently they get a lot of backlash for having the same people on different shows.'
After a further year had passed, Steven eventually managed to make it onto the show but admitted that show bosses gave the contestants tips on how to come across.
He revealed they were shown examples of good and bad contestants on-screen with producers encouraging then to be lively and outlandish during filming.
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Steven said: 'They showed you a video of someone who wasn't a very good contestant, and then they showed you one of someone who was very lively - and they said they would rather we were lively.
"They gave us tips and tricks - like telling us they can edit bits out if we said something we shouldn't have."
Steven's time on the show proved lucky as he was able to walk away with one third of the £17,000 prize he won with two of his teammates.
He also received his winnings just a week after filming despite being warned that it could take up to three months.
Steven confirmed: 'If you win you have to sign another contract as you're accepting money from them.
"They told us not to give money to the contestants who didn't win money just because you feel sorry for them. They can't stop you, but I think they just don't want you to have that in mind.
"They said [the money] could take three months, but I had it in a week.'
Hardest Quiz Show Questions
Would you know the answers to some of quizzing TV's hardest questions
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Earlier this year, fans were left outraged after what they described as the "worst" question in the show's history. Host Jeremy Clarkson asked: 'From the 2000 awards ceremony onwards, the Best Actress Oscar has never been won by a woman whose surname begins with which one of these letters?' The multiple choice answers were between G, K, M and W. In the end, and with the £32,000 safe, player Glen had to make a guess and went for G. It turned out to be correct as Nicole Kidman, Frances McDormand and Kate Winslet are among the stars who have won the Best Actress gong since 2000.
The 1% Club - Viewers of Lee Mack's popular ITV show were left dumbfounded by a question that also left the players perplexed. The query went as follows: "Edna's birthday is on the 6th of April and Jen's birthday falls on the 15th of October, therefore Amir's birthday must be the 'X' of January." It turns out the conundrum links the numbers with its position in the sentence, so 6th is the sixth word and 15th is the fifteenth word. Therefore, Amir's birthday is January 24th, corresponding to the 24th word in the sentence.
The Chase - The ITV daytime favourite left fans scratching their heads when it threw up one of the most bizarre questions to ever grace the programme. One of the questions asked the player: "Someone with a nightshade intolerance should avoid eating what?" The options were - sweetcorn, potatoes, carrots - with Steve selecting sweetcorn but the correct answer was potatoes.