Chess Masters: The Endgame contestant 'kept alive' by chess
'Chess Masters: The Endgame' host Sue Perkins was stunned when an ex-prisoner contestant told how he was "kept alive" by the game.
The 55-year-old TV presenter was amazed by the guests' stories on the show, but she found it moving when a former inmate told her chess had given him a "way out".
Speaking to Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett on the 'Dish from Waitrose' podcast, she said: "One guy learnt, for example, in prison.
"And it was the thing that kept him alive. It's the thing that made him believe that there was a way out, mentally. You know, in all the chaos and all the overcrowding and the terrible situation, he would just sit at the board, sometimes with another, sometimes on his own.
"And all these players are, I mean, the top amateurs you can get. They're nudging on masters. All their stories are amazing, and, yeah, they let me come in and just goof about!'
Alongside the former 'Great British Bake Off' co-presenter, chess coach and former 'The Traitors' star Anthony Mathurin and three-time British chess champion David Howell are also overseeing the eight-part BBC Two series.
The trio put 12 of the game's rising stars of all ages through their paces, in a bid to be crowned a chess master.
Sue finds the intensity of chess "erotic".
She said: "When you think of chess, you think of maybe a 65-year-old white guy, with a sort of dusty sort of collar.
"Chess is hot. This is what I discovered.
"They are on TikTok, they're on Insta[gram], they are whip-smart, and they are everywhere.
"It's the fastest growing game/ sport in the world and billions of people play it, and ... yeah, it's hot.'
Sue - whose late dad Bert inspired her to front the show, because he was a "really good" chess player - hopes the programme will be a success.
She said: "We've been filming for 10 days in Wales.
"Chess has never been done like this, you know, with the prism of modern TV and the expectations of modern TV on it.
"So, I'm hopeful. We had such a great time and they're, they're just good folk."
'Chess Masters: The Endgame' continues on Monday, March 24, at 8pm on BBC Two.
'Dish from Waitrose' is available on all podcast providers.
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