Chaser Paul Sinha has taken a brutal swipe at viewers of the hugely popular ITV game show – calling keen fans ‘unemployed’.
His quick wit and fiery authenticity has made Paul, aka The Sinnerman, a fan favourite on The Chase.
Colleague and fellow Chaser Anne Hegerty, known by the moniker The Governess, has previously described him as the most ‘fearsome’ Chaser.
But when he’s not playing fiercely on the show, he’s performing stand up comedy around the country.
Arriving at the Ealing Comedy Festival on Thursday, the 55-year-old kicked off his set with a playful jab at watchers of The Chase, the Express reported.
‘Welcome to you, and a special welcome to those of you in full-time employment, as you won’t have a clue who I am,’ he said – in a cheeky nod to the show’s airing time of 5pm on weekdays.
Chaser Paul Sinha has taken a brutal swipe at viewers of the hugely popular ITV game show – calling keen fans ‘unemployed’
During his set at the Ealing Comedy Festival on Thursday (pictured), the 55-year-old poked fun at the show’s airing time of 5pm on weekdays
But Paul did not shy away from laughing at himself, as he poked fun at his player name The Sinnerman, saying: ‘It’s a s*** name. It means f*** all. It makes me sound like a low-budget superhero!’
The ITV quizzer, who first qualified as a doctor before turning to comedy, even poked fun at his family names.
‘My mum’s name is Smith,’ he said. ‘It’s an unusual maiden name for someone with full Bengali heritage, but there is an explanation – which is I’m lying. I made it up.’
Paul later admitted his mother’s maiden name was actually Chakrabarti, which he joked has ’17 variant spellings in the English language.’
He added that he’d been ‘locked out of so many online accounts’ after selecting it as a security question.
‘Many years ago, I made the pragmatic decision that my mum’s name is actually Smith – it’s not easy though, I tell you,’ he continued.
Paul joked that he’d made a successful career owing to his knack for ‘box-ticking’, as he falls into a number of ‘diverse’ categories.
‘I’m a gay man and, I’ll be honest, it’s not a bad life – you’re the only openly gay British Asian qualified doctor with Parkinson’s Disease,’ he laughed.
His quick wit and fiery authenticity has made Paul, aka The Sinnerman, a fan favourite on The Chase
The Chaser said that, after a long period of singledom between the ages of 18 and 41, he had finally found love.
But, in a cruel twist of fate, he received his Parkinson’s diagnosis the very same year he became a married man.
‘When you see as many doctors as I do, your life is a rollercoaster, your career is a rollercoaster… tonight I’m in Ealing [but] two weeks ago I had a damage limitation gig with the production team at Masterchef! It’s all happening for me!’
This appeared to the audience to be a gesture to TV chef John Torode’s recent dismissal from his BBC post following accusations he had used derogatory racialised language.
Despite his buoyant tone, it has been a difficult few years for Paul, who acknowledges that his disease could eventually leave him ‘expressionless’ and ‘immobile’.
Nonetheless he insisted he was facing the future with ‘good cheer and optimism’, as proved by the riotous comedy set that drove his audience to (happy) tears.
The London-based doctor has previously opened up about his declining health, having admitted he suffered two heart attacks in the same week but refused to call an ambulance for a ‘stupid’ reason.
Paul told of his ordeal on an episode of Good Morning Britain to presenters Susanna Reid, 54, and Ed Balls, 58.
Paul previously revealed he suffered two heart attacks in the same week but refused to call an ambulance because he ‘didn’t want to cause a scene’
He said the ordeal happened while he was at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023 to perform a run of shows.
He explained of his set at the Scottish arts festival: ‘It was a bit of a wild show.
‘It was very much about my life as a gay, disabled son of immigrants but it was quite a political show, and it was a big show.
‘I was in a room with 400 people in and it all got on top of me and I had two heart attacks in the same Edinburgh Fringe.
‘Two! Week number one and week number three.’
Paul explained the first heart attack happened while he was ‘shaking the hand of Levi Roots’, who he had been introduced to in a bar.
As he greeted the businessman, known for pitching Reggae Reggae Sauce on Dragons’ Den, he felt ‘a crushing, tightening chest pain’.
Having previously worked as a GP before entering showbusiness, the quizzer explained: ‘As my years of medicine made me remember, it was not like anything I’d ever felt before and I knew it was cardiac.
‘But I didn’t want to cause a scene so I just walked into a cab.
‘I didn’t want to call an ambulance because I thought, “I might as well just get into a cab to take me to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible”, which is what I did.’
The Chase airs weekdays on ITV1 from 5pm and is available to stream on ITVX
