What it’s really like to appear on The Chase… bizarre dress rules and toilet ban plus secret to guaranteeing your place

IT HAS become one of Britain’s best-loved quiz shows, with millions tuning in every day to see if they can beat the Chasers. Now we can lift the lid on what it takes to get on ITV’s The Chase – and host Bradley Walsh’s shock confession to the contestants. In an exclusive interview, a former contestant has lifted the lid on the best kept secrets of Britain’s favourite quiz show Credit: ITV The male quizzer, who has asked to remain anonymous, revealed how they applied to the ITV show in 2017 Credit: ITV From the bizarre outfit rules to the tips on how to survive the gruelling audition process, a former contestant has given a peek behind the bright lights and buzzers. The male quizzer, who has asked to remain anonymous, revealed how they applied to the ITV show in 2017 after watching it religiously while studying at university. They said: “One day I was watching and I got a lot of the questions right so I applied on the website. The questions were things like: ‘How often do you watch The Chase?’ “It was around 13 pages long so I filled that out and forgot about it until I got a call from an unknown number when I was walking out of a lecture. I picked up and it was a producer from The Chase. “They wanted to check my quiz knowledge over the phone so asked me some random questions while I was walking back to my halls. I was pretty confident in my answers so they invited me to a screen test.” The audition was held at the Jurys Inn hotel in Liverpool with 25 other people vying for a place on the show. He said: “They had taken over a conference room in the hotel to do a mock version of The Chase. It was to see if people would just answer the question or would put some thought and personality behind it. They told us not to be monosyllabic and if we didn’t know an answer to just choose one or say ‘pass’ to avoid dead air time. “It was clear that they go for characters and not just people who have amazing general knowledge.” He added: “We were asked to sit in a big circle and the producers were asking us questions like: ‘What would you spend the money on?’ “Then they staged a mock version of The Chase with one of the producers playing the Chaser. We did the individual cash builder and then the group round where you have to avoid being caught to win the cash pot. “Then it got really tense as the producers went out of the room to discuss how we got on. After a few minutes they came back in and pointed at me along with four others and told us to stay in the room. “The rest of the group were asked to go next door and basically told: ‘Thanks but no thanks.’ They told us all we had made it through and that they would love to have us on the show. “But they said we must not ask when we would be called because there is a long waiting list.” Five months later they called him in for filming at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire. He said: “I had to tell them exactly when I would be arriving at the train station. A private taxi was waiting to pick me up and a chaperone was waiting outside the Travelodge. I was then taken to dinner and you have to sit in the corner of the restaurant while the chaperone is watching you. “Then they make you go back to your bedroom and you have to stay in there all night. While you don’t get paid to go on the show, they cover all your expenses: the return train ticket, hotel, evening meal and breakfast. “The night before filming they give you strict instructions of when to be down for breakfast before meeting in the reception to be taken to the studio. “I met my teammates in the lobby, and we were driven to the studio in a taxi. As soon as we arrived, producers took our phones away. We were then held in a room for three hours to brief us on the show. “They read through every single rule and told us there is an adjudicator in the studio so if you genuinely feel like the answer is wrong, you can ask for it to be checked. Some of the rules felt obvious like: ‘You can’t just ask someone for the answer.’” Meanwhile he revealed that there are strict rules when it comes to what contestants are allowed to wear on TV. He said: “You are asked to bring five tops and two pairs of trousers with you to the studio which must not have logos or stripes that would strobe on camera. “They also didn’t want us all to be dressed the same. While we were in hair and make-up they took our clothes and put them on mannequins to test how they would look next to each other on screen.” He revealed how the group were taken to have lunch in the studio and were then introduced to host Bradley Walsh. “Bradley was nice but he turns it up ten-fold when he is in front of the camera,” he said. Our insider revealed how Bradley Walsh turns up 10-fold when he is in-front of the camera Credit: Not known, clear with picture desk Our contestant, not pictured, shared some of the show’s most bizarre secrets, including the secretive NDAs that need to be signed Credit: ITV “He also mentioned that he was feeling a little worse for wear as he was at an awards ceremony the night before. “He looked pretty broken but then the producers would say ‘action,’ and he would jump back into character. But there is also no audience so all of the reactions to Bradley’s jokes are edited in post-production. “They film three episodes a day for around six weeks so it is pretty intense.” The quizzer added: “The producer kept giving us water to prevent our throats from drying up which would have meant more retakes. One guy in my team had a hearing problem so often he would ask for the question to be repeated. “During the cash builder the crew would have to refilm it from scratch if he couldn’t hear a question. But he was told that he wasn’t able to change his answers.” The quizzer revealed how he was against Shaun ‘The Dark Destroyer’ Wallace in his cash builder round, and was caught out on the final step. He said: “I had a really tough round. I was then taken backstage by a producer to wait around for two hours, but I couldn’t go to the toilet because I had to keep my mic on. You have to watch everyone else in your team before they allow you to leave or go to the toilet.” He added: “I was on my way back to the dressing room and Shaun came up to tell me how well I did and how hard the questions were. I had to sign an NDA [non-disclosure agreement] so I wasn’t able to tell my friends or family how I did on the show before the filming came out. “I wasn’t even allowed to tell anyone that I had been on the show. They tell you two weeks before it airs when the episode is coming on – it was around a year after I had filmed.” He added: “They also advise you to not look at social media when the episode is on, saying: ‘It is only a small subsection of people who are very passionate fans with strong opinions.’ I couldn’t resist having a look as I have a thick skin so found the responses funny.” An ITV spokesman refused to comment.