Fun fact: at time of writing there are around 2,530 episodes of ITV’s The Chase, excluding the celebrity specials and other variations. However, if I might direct your attention to one in particular, some in the village may notice a familiar face. Helen Burrows appears in season 17, episode 111 and I sat down with her to hear all about it.

She, like all would-be contestants, completed an application to be on the show and after two years of radio silence, finally got a call back. The phone call invited her to participate in the interview process which consists of a number of quizzes, either via phone or Zoom, to determine if you could, in fact, be a match for the infamous Chasers. Do well enough and you’re invited to the studio to record an episode.

On the big day, the production company is kind enough to pay for your hotel and travel to the studio. Two episodes are filmed a day so if, like Helen, you’re unlucky enough to be in the first of them then it means an early start to be at the studio for 6am. This of course is to allow time for the seemingly endless briefings in the green room with your teammates and a few wardrobe checks to get you ready for your televisual appearance. With all that done, it’s time to go to set, which is an enormous room, which you may be surprised to learn, is completely devoid of an audience, which means that every audience laugh you hear on the finished show is a laugh sound track. This may seem mildly dishonest but it’s actually more common than you might expect. So next time you’re sat watching a game show, just take a moment to check if they ever actually show the audience on camera. Apologies if I have just ruined TV for you forever.

It is at this stage that you get to meet the lovely Bradley Walsh, who is by all accounts, along with the rest of the crew, a hugely reassuring presence. Then you record your pre-planned introductions and the show is underway. You’ll notice at this stage that contestants are yet to meet their Chaser. Interestingly, their introduction is exactly as it is presented on TV; the first time the contestants know who they’re up against is as they appear through the lights at the start of the show. In this particular episode, Helen and the team’s mighty nemesis was Paul Sinha, aka, Sinnerman. Despite the obvious intensity of the show, the crew are kind enough to give breaks after every round to make sure everyone is happy and comfortable. I urge you to watch the episode for yourselves so I won’t give away too much, but I will say that after a hard-fought battle of brains, Helen and another teammate emerged victorious and came away with a very respectable amount of money each.

However, having escaped the clutches of the Chaser and won the prize money, the next battle began. Being a TV game show, it’s important that contestants don’t give away the result before the episode airs, so they’re all made to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement to make sure it’s kept a secret. This, as you may imagine, is difficult as you can’t tell your friends and family until the show goes out. The money, on the other hand, is promised to be in your account within six weeks although, happily, Helen confirmed she received it after only one. But of course, she could tell no one, so the wait began. Due to the rate at which the episodes are filmed, the production crew indicate that it could be between a year and eighteen months before the episode goes out and there is always the possibility, if only a small one, that it won’t go out at all. In that case though, you would then be allowed to tell people. Two years went by, and then, the news arrived. On March 10th 2026, the episode was televised and finally, four years after the original application, the world could know of Helen’s quizzing prowess.

Elliot Wilkes

* Photograph courtesy of ITV's The Chase