They say that 10,000 hours of practice is enough to make you a master in any field.
But no one would deny The Chase’s biggest fan that label, given he has watched a whopping 2,270 episodes of the ITV quiz show, hosted by Bradley Walsh.
In a decade-long binge, the obsessive, 52, from Kent, has recorded detailed statistics on each one, right down to the prize pots racked up, every contestant and Chaser’s answering accuracy, as well as their speeds in the Final Chase.
There is one instalment of the game show that eludes him, however, and the stats expert is on a mission to find it.
In 2013, ITV news presenters Matt Barbet, Charlene White, Romilly Weeks and Alastair Stewart were invited on to the programme for a charity special but, according to the die-hard fan, the episode has never been repeated.
He told MailOnline: ‘Occasionally they have an episode which isn’t part of the regular production. Most of the episodes fall into the daytime series or the celebrity series, but the Text Santa episode was a standalone and that’s why it’s never been repeated.
There is one instalment of The Chase that eludes its biggest fan and the stats expert is on a mission to find it
In 2013, ITV news presenters Matt Barbet, Charlene White, Romilly Weeks and Alastair Stewart (pictured, left) were invited on to the programme for a charity special
In a decade-long binge, the obsessive, 52, from Kent, has recorded detailed statistics on every episode, except one Christmas special which saw Anne Hegerty don an angel outfit
‘It had all the Text Santa logos and phone numbers all over it telling you how you could text in. So they would need to do a bit of work to pixelate various parts of that.
‘There was a previous Text Santa episode, but I think that one was just part of the regular series, so that one has been repeated on Challenge and so on.’
The accumulation of statistics has not always been seamless. Indeed, the superfan only started watching the show intently once more than 1,000 episodes had aired, prompting the mother of all binge sessions.
‘I [started watching] maybe four or five years in,’ he said. ‘I can’t remember specifically when I started. I think it was 2016 when I started collecting the data on it, but I maybe had been watching it for one or two years before that.
‘It’s possibly over 1000 episodes that I hadn’t documented that I then had to go back and watch. So that was obviously quite a time consuming thing to do.
‘But at that stage, I was into the project, and I was quite happy to watch them all.’
The superfan’s website One Question Shootout is a maze of Chase statistics, compiling numbers on each Chaser, each contestant and each question, as well as observations on ‘how to beat the chaser’ and even continuity errors on the show.
His knowledge of the series has been praised by fellow fans, who dip into the site’s well of factoids and figures and douse themselves in Chase trivia, even taking their findings to an academic setting.
Our superfan said: ‘Most of the episodes fall into the daytime series or the celebrity series, but the Text Santa episode was a standalone and that’s why it’s never been repeated’
He added: ‘It had all the Text Santa logos and phone numbers all over it telling you how you could text in. So they would need to do a bit of work to pixelate various parts of that’
‘I’ve had a number of people comment on it, and I’ve had people message me where they’ve they’ve used the data set for university projects,’ he revealed.
‘I also know a couple of statisticians who have done their own analysis on the data that I’ve collected to try and work things out.’
The enthusiast, whose background in statistics helps him navigate The Chase’s myriad possibilities, has even had interactions with the show’s stars.
He said: ‘A few years ago, I think it was when Paul [Sinha] got his 200th episode, I did a little tweet because I knew that he was a big cricket fan. So rather than doing one of my conventional tables, I did it like a cricket scoreboard.
‘So it became, matches or innings, how many you won, how many not outs, and that sort of thing. And it took a while for someone to notice.
‘But eventually Mark [Labbett] worked out it was a cricket thing, and he gave out his middle name, so that I could have a proper “M A Labbett” on his cricket scorecard. I find it all interesting, and I’m glad that other people do.
‘I think [Mark] liked it. Paul never commented on it. When Paul was going to be on Countdown, I anagrammed all the Chasers that had been on Countdown. Nobody worked out what I was doing, which was a little bit embarrassing.’
The superfan’s expertise has been bolstered by three visits to the studio audience to watch the filming of The Chase.
The enthusiast, whose background in statistics helps him navigate The Chase’s myriad possibilities, has even had interactions with the show’s stars including Paul Sinha (pictured)
He created a cricket-style scorecard for the Chaser and when Mark Labbett (pictured) found out what he was up to, he provided his middle name so he could be included too
He revealed that the slick 45-minute package presented to viewers is actually a tight edit of more than three hours of recording.
‘There’s little things. When Bradley first chats to the contestant, that’s a lot longer than they ever edit for TV.
‘When he’s asking the questions, he’s at a podium, but when you do the next bit at the table, the podium is not in the shot anymore. So there’s little things they have to do to rearrange the set.’
He also revealed that contestants or audience members can challenge an answer deemed incorrect and take it to an independent adjudicator.
‘If somebody asks a question and you think they’ve got the answer wrong, you can stop them recording, and you can challenge that,’ the expert said. ‘And so that happened.
‘The first time I went, there was a question about the Calcutta Cup in rugby, and one of the celebrities pressed what they thought was the answer, and when it came up as wrong, they challenged it.
‘So the independent adjudicator went away and researched it, and in that case, they found the contestant was wrong and the answer stood.
‘Sometimes it’ll happen in a cash builder, and sometimes it’ll happen at the end, there’ll be a slight pause where Brad is waiting for the adjudicator to verify whether an answer came in time or not.
The superfan revealed that the slick 45-minute package presented to viewers is actually a tight edit of more than three hours of recording, including many a quip from Bradley Walsh
He also explained they reshoot various scenes where the host fluffs his lines, meaning they have to get all the details, including the score in the background, the same as they were
‘One of the shows I went to, someone got an answer in time at the end, but because it was said at the same time as the buzzer, it wasn’t audible on the recording, so they re-shot it with the person getting the answer a split second earlier so it was audible.
‘At the end of each recording, they will pick up three or four times when Bradley muffed his words, and they go back and record it. If it’s in the Final Chase, they have to get the score at exactly the right point behind him.‘
Would our expert ever put his unmatched knowledge of The Chase to the test and actually go on the show?
‘I do quizzes locally, but they’re with friends,’ he said. ‘Going on a TV show with some random people is a completely different kettle of fish. But when you’re obsessed with a show, like I am with The Chase, maybe after all these years I should.’
The Chase airs weekdays on ITV1 at 5pm and is available to stream on ITVX.
