Maths tutor and magician win record-breaking prize on The Chase

Two contestants on the latest season of The Chase have made history by landing a six-figure payout.

Warning: The following article may contain spoilers.

The episode aired in the UK on September 6, but it is not known when it will air in New Zealand.

Contestants Karen and Ian took home a record-breaking £100,000 ($213,000) - the British game show’s largest prize ever.

The last time a team took home a six-figure prize was in 2018 when four contestants outsmarted Ann 'The Governess' Hegerty and split £100,000 between them. At the time, it set a record for the largest jackpot in the show’s history.

Karen and Ian are now the most successful team of two to have won The Chase. Ian said he’d like to buy a “very nice car” with his newfound fortune, while Karen exclaimed: “Abu Dhabi, here I come! Grand Prix.”

Host Bradley Walsh said he was “thrilled” after the high-stakes episode ended with two lucky winners.

Karen, a science and maths tutor from Macclesfield, Cheshire, and Ian, a magician from Middlesex, Greater London, made it to the final round, where they faced off against Paul 'The Sinnerman' Sinha.

Ian chose to pursue £6000 ($12,767) from the money pool, likely looking to walk away with cash quickly. Karen did the opposite, choosing an offer of £94,000 ($200,015). This raised their total potential cash prize to £100,000.

In a two-minute test round with Walsh, Karen and Ian answered 14 questions correctly. Sinha needed to answer 16 to win, given two contestants had made it into the final.

If the Chaser gets a question wrong during their two-minute speed round, the timer is paused and contestants can attempt to answer it. If they answer correctly, the Chaser has to answer an extra question to return to their place.

Sinha answered the 15th question wrong in his last 10 seconds, stopping the timer in the final few moments.'

Karen and Ian couldn’t answer correctly, leading Walsh to ask Sinha another question: “Lesley Manville played the widow Cathy in what BBC sitcom?”

Sinha incorrectly answered with “Last of the Summer Wine”, turning attention back to Karen and Ian with one second on the clock - they guessed “EastEnders”, which was also wrong.

However, with only one second left when the timer restarted, Karen yelled “Yes!” and the pair jumped for joy, sharing a hug as they realised they’d won £100,000 together.

Fans watching the fortunate contestants score one of the series’ largest prize wins said it was the best episode of the series in years as it celebrates 15 years of high-speed trivia gracing our TV screens.

“Was shouting ‘MUM’ at that question but Paul drew a blank, what a tense finish! Congrats to Karen and Ian (particularly Karen) for a fantastic edition - I’m going for a lie-down!” one X user wrote in a post after the episode.

“Well done, Karen and Ian... not many are brave enough to go for the higher amount,” wrote another user.

“Huge scenes on The Chase tonight. Absolute all-timer episode. Karen huge cajones [sic],” wrote a third person, while another suggested Ian “needs to buy Karen several drinks”.

According to TVNZ, The Chase is routinely its second-highest reached show for the day, having an average daily reach of just over 500,600 unique viewers each day aged 5-plus on TVNZ 1.

It first aired in 2009 and has been running for 17 seasons.

Watch The Chase UK on TVNZ1 every day at 5pm or head to TVNZ+ for more episodes.

This article was first published by the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.